UPDATE 2-AngloGold may sell Mali mine after failing to agree investment
* AngloGold and partner look at selling Sadiola mine in Mali
* Sees FY production towards top end of guidance
* Shares jump as costs and debt also fall
(Recasts with plan to sell Sadiola, adds shares)
By Tanisha Heiberg
JOHANNESBURG, Nov 5 (Reuters) - AngloGold Ashanti Ltd and its joint venture partner are looking at selling amine in Mali after failing to reach an agreement with the westAfrican country about an investment project, the company said onMonday.
The news came as AngloGold, Africa's biggest gold miner byoutput, said it expected full-year production to reach the upperend of its guidance range, helping to push its shares as much as9 percent higher.
Mali, Africa's third biggest producer of gold after SouthAfrica and Ghana, has struggled to attract investment sinceIslamist militants seized the desert north in 2012. AngloGold said it had started the process of selling theSadiola mine, a joint venture with IAMGOLD , afterfailing to agree the terms of an investment project with theMalian government.
The South African company and IAMGOLD had been in talks withMali about a project to add sulphide-ore processing capabilityto a plant.
"While this agreement has not yet been reached, AngloGoldAshanti and IAMGOLD, who collectively own an 82 percent interestin Sadiola, have initiated a process to identify third partiesthat may be interested in acquiring their collective interestsin Sadiola," AngloGold said.
The company reported a 15 percent fall in production to851,000 ounces in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from the sameperiod a year earlier, after it sold some South African assets. Output from retained operations was broadly flat at 851,000ounces, as a rise from its Mponeng mine in South Africa and afully-ramped up Kibali mine in Democratic Republic of Congooffset falls at Siguiri in Guinea and AGA Minera????o in Brazil.
AngloGold said it expected full-year production to reach theupper end of its guidance of 3,325,000 to 3,450,000 ounces.
All-in sustaining costs for the retained South Africanoperations fell 11 percent to $920 per ounce, while net debt wasdown 15 percent to $1.75 billion.
"The net debt was lower, they managed to bring down all-incosts so generally I think it is looking quite positive," saidVasili Girasis, market trader at BP Bernstein.
AngloGold shares were up 6.7 percent to 150.42 rand at 1015GMT.
(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu andMark Potter)
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