AngloGold Ashanti has awarded a mining contract worth $470 million to mining services company- Perenti’s African arm, African Mining Services and Ghanaian mining services company, MAXMASS at its Iduapriem gold mine in the Western Region of Ghana.
The contract, which is a surface mining joint venture (JV) is structured as a 60:40 agreement between African Mining Services (AMS) and MAXMASS. The joint venture between the two mining services is therefore named as AMAX.
This mining contract is a significant one for these surface mining services companies and for Perenti’s, the parent company of AMS, in particular, this adds roughly $280 million to its contract portfolio. Besides, work is expected to begin immediately at Iduapriem. For MAXMASS, this 40 per cent share agreement entitles $190 million to the company.
Mark Norwell, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Perenti, the parent organization of African Mining Services remarked that the continued transformation of AMS, including the winning of quality projects underpinned by robust financial and commercial disciplines remains a key strategic initiative in Perenti’s 2025 Group Strategy.
“We’re delighted to be extending our relationship with our long-standing client, AngloGold Ashanti. AMS has a reputation for delivering excellence while generating enduring value and certainty for stakeholders and the award of this new contract at a site where AMS has previously operated for AngloGold Ashanti provides further support for that reputation. We look forward to continuing to partner with AngloGold Ashanti.”
Mark Norwell, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Perenti Group
Significance of the Joint Venture Agreement
Perenti Mining Chief Executive Officer, Paul Muller, indicated that AMS had a long history of delivering operational excellence and value to clients, having provided mining services in Ghana for 30 years.
“We have provided surface mining services at the Iduapriem gold mine since 2012, establishing a successful partnership with AngloGold Ashanti. We look forward to continuing to strengthen this partnership and also welcome the opportunity to work with our newest joint venture partner, MAXMASS.
“We have a strong commitment to support and build local capability to generate social and economic value for the regions in which we operate. Under this contract, and through the AMAX joint venture, we expect to continue to support the many local businesses that have become important suppliers and contractors to our operations under previous contracts.
“The joint venture also expects to employ more than 475 Ghanaians with approximately 40 per cent of the workforce employed from the surrounding local communities and the remaining 60 per cent from other regions within Ghana.”
Paul Muller, Perenti Mining Chief Executive Officer
Moreover, AngloGold’s Iduapriem mine comprises of two leases, known as Iduapriem and Tebrebie, which spans across 110 square kilometres.
Furthermore, the mine is an open-pit development and has an associated carbon-in-pulp plant. It produces about 275,000 ounces of gold per annum at all-in sustaining costs of $1,531 per ounce.
The contract award from AngloGold came just 10 days after Perenti scored a separate $280 million contract from Panoramic Resources for the Savannah nickel-copper-cobalt project in Western Australia.
In June 2021, Perenti also secured a $496 million contract for open pit mining services at Sandfire Resources’ Motheo copper project in Botswana.
READ ALSO: Ghana’s Macro-Economic Model to transform key sectors
