AngloGold Ashanti : University of Fort Hare and AngloGold Ashanti Agree to Major Academic Partnership

032/2024

UNIVERSITY OF FORT HARE AND ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI AGREE TO MAJOR ACADEMIC

PARTNERSHIP

Alice, Eastern Cape, 21 June 2024: The University of Fort Hare and AngloGold Ashanti are proud to announce the establishment of the AngloGold Ashanti Chair in Dairy Science and Technology, a project designed to sustainably improve yields for small-scale farmers in one of South Africa's poorest provinces.

The Chair will drive research activities that contribute to new knowledge production in dairy science, both nationally and regionally. This research is designed to support rural small-scale farmers in the Eastern Cape and elsewhere in the country over an initial 10-year period.

University of Fort Hare Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sakhela Buhlungu says, "This is the first endowed research chair for our university, ushering in a new dawn for knowledge production to support industry growth, food security, shared prosperity, inclusivity, socio-economic development and upliftment of stakeholders in the dairy sector value chain and rural communities. This grant from AngloGold Ashanti does two important things: it sets us on a new strategic trajectory by helping the establishment of a Faculty of Veterinary Science, and it ensures a lasting legacy for rural development in the Eastern Cape."

For AngloGold Ashanti, the R12.5 million endowment is part of a larger investment in legacy projects in education and agriculture that AngloGold Ashanti will carry out over the next five years to honour the company's commitment to South Africa, its employees and its communities.

"AngloGold Ashanti has a proud history in South Africa, and the company remains committed to supporting communities with deep links to the country's mining industry," says AngloGold Ashanti CEO Alberto Calderon. "This is why we have deliberately targeted the province from which a significant proportion of our workforce was drawn for many decades."

The Eastern Cape, the poorest of South Africa's nine provinces, has a significant agrarian economy with a large population of subsistence farmers.

The Research Chair position aligns with South Africa's National Development Plan which emphasises the untapped potential of rural agriculture.

The Chair's impact is expected to contribute to several Millennium Development Goals, including:

• • Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
  • Promoting gender equality and empowering women
  • Reducing child mortality
  • Improving maternal health
  • Ensuring environmental sustainability and
  • Being part of the global partnership for development.
• Ends -

Jointly issued by AngloGold Ashanti & the University of Fort Hare

For further information:

University of Fort Hare

Mr. JP Roodt

Director: Marketing and Communication

1. [phone]

1. [e-mail]

AngloGold Ashanti

Charmane Russell

T: [phone]

1. [e-mail]