AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said the company reached out to the Tanzanian government over changes to the country's mining laws that the company intends to challenge through arbitration, Bloomberg News reported Feb. 26.

In July 2017, the South African-based gold miner initiated arbitration proceedings against the country's government concerning its amended mining laws, which requires the government to own at least a 16% interest in mining projects with a provision to increase its stake to 50%

The revised legislation also allowed the government to renegotiate or dissolve mining contracts and increase royalties from 4% to 6%.

The company, through its Samax Resources Ltd. and Geita Gold Mining Ltd. subsidiaries, owns the Geita gold mine in the country.

The chief executive added that AngloGold Ashanti may opt to sell more assets at the right price, and is open to partnerships at its Obuasi gold mine in Ghana, which the company will reopen after receiving government approval for its redevelopment plans.