Moody’s hands AngloGold Baa3 debt rating

AngloGold Ashanti’s long-term issuer rating and senior unsecured ratings have been confirmed by Moody’s at Baa3 with a stable outlook.

Also, Newmont Mining’s debt ratings were left intact at Baa2 with a stable outlook, while Barrick Gold’s debt ratings were confirmed at Baa3, with a negative outlook.

Meanwhile, the Debt ratings agency’s Investors Service on Friday downgraded the senior unsecured ratings of the world’s largest gold miner by market capitalisation, Goldcorp, to near-junk – a notch above ‘junk’.

Moody’s also gave Goldcorp a negative outlook.

"The downgrade of Goldcorp's rating reflects the deterioration of its profitability and coverage metrics and our expectation they will remain weak through 2016 combined with minimal free cash flow generation at a $1 100/oz gold price," Moody's VP and senior analyst Jamie Koutsoukis explained.

Baa3, the lowest rating under Moody's long-term ‘investment grade’ corporate obligation rating, means that Goldcorp’s obligations were subject to moderate credit risk.

“The negative outlook incorporates our expectation that Goldcorp will be challenged to improve its profitability and coverage metrics given the expectation of reduced performance from its mines and the risk that lower prices could result in negative free cash flow,” Moody’s said.