AngloGold expresses concern over looting from Ghana gold mine

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ACCRA, April 13 (Reuters) - Africa's biggest gold producer AngloGold Ashanti (Xetra: AOD.DE - news) said on Wednesday it had "grave and mounting concerns" about illegal mining at its Obuasi mine in Ghana, which has been idle since 2014 when the company laid off thousands of workers.

"Illegal miners have been looting large quantities of high-grade gold bearing material for more than two months. In the process they are causing significant damage to critical infrastructure," Eric Asubonteng, general manager of AngloGold Ghana Ltd, told a news conference.

He said AngloGold was at a fairly advanced stage of a feasibility study that would help determine the long-term prospects for the mine and whether it can restart production.

The company had teamed up with Randgold Resources to revive Obuasi. But Randgold pulled out of the project in December, raising questions about the prospects of the century-old mine that has not turned a profit for more than a decade and requires heavy investment amid a commodity price slump.

"Even (Taiwan OTC: 6436.TWO - news) though we have a lot of confidence in the potential of Obuasi, what is happening now (with illegal mining) certainly goes to fundamentally undermine that confidence in our ability to turn a world class resource into a world class mine," he said.

Ghana is Africa's second biggest gold producer and gold is the main source of government revenue, ahead of oil and cocoa. Tens of thousands of people also do small-scale gold mining, some of which is illegal. (Reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Edward McAllister and Jon Boyle)