The International Cyanide Management Institute (ICMI) announced today that AngloGold Ashanti Limited has been granted extensions of the Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) for its Mponeng Gold Plant West Wits and its Savuka Gold Plant West Wits, both in Gauteng Province, South Africa. These plants were conditionally certified on September 5, 2007. Their CAPs, which have been posted on the ICMI web site along with their Summary Audit Reports, were to be fully implemented by August 15, 2007.
ICMI received a request from the lead auditor of these operations to extend the completion dates for the CAPs to March 30, 2008, due to technical and analytical difficulties in fully implementing one of the provisions of the CAPs by the established deadlines. This new date is still within the one-year limit allowed for full implementation of CAPs. ICMI has granted the auditor’s request, and the revised CAPs are available through the AngloGold Ashanti Signatory Page, http://www.cyanidecode.org/signatory_anglogold.php.
The Code is a voluntary industry program for companies involved in the production of gold using cyanide and companies producing and transporting this cyanide. It was developed under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme by a multi-stakeholder Steering Committee. The Code is intended to complement an operation’s existing obligation to comply with the applicable laws and regulations of the political jurisdictions in which the operation is located.
ICMI has been established to administer the Code, promote its adoption, evaluate its implementation, and manage the certification process. A detailed list of the operations covered by signatory companies’ applications, along with the full text of the Code and its implementing and administrative documents, are available at www.cyanidecode.org.
Date:
Tuesday, November 6, 2007