It follows an $A500 million five-year contract renewal at the site for underground mining specialist Barminco, the second largest ever to be awarded in Australia.

The world's third largest gold producer has been looking at a number of bulk mining options at the site, such as block cave and sub level cave development, since last year.

However, the new Vogue discovery, which occurs from 600m below surface and is projected to extend to 800m, offers the potential for a further 2-5Moz of precious metal.

AngloGold Ashanti vice-president corporate affairs, HR and business development Andrea Maxey told MiningNews.net it was still early days in terms of calculating a resource on Vogue, which only came to light about six months ago.

"But we are now conducting a pre-feasibility into options for large-scale underground mining at Sunrise Dam," she said.

Last year the mine, which is located 55 kilometres south of Laverton and comprises both underground and open pit material, produced 396,000oz.

In the latest three-month period 72,000oz was delivered at total cash costs of $US1153/oz (including deferred stripping costs).

At the end of December last year total reserves at the mine stood at 13.89 million tonnes grading an average of 3.08 grams per tonne for a contained 1.38Moz, while resources totalled 36.68Mt at 2.85gpt for 3.36Moz.

Coming off a problematic March quarter due to flooding at its Western Australian mine, coupled with a seismic event which stopped production at its TauTona operation in South Africa for five days, AngloGold still churned out 1.039 million ounces of the precious metal globally in the latest three-month period.

This was only slightly down on its guidance of 1.04Moz, while total cash costs of $US706/oz ($A659/oz) were only marginally above the $675 to $700/oz previously forecast.

Production in the current quarter is expected to reach 1.09Moz at total cash costs of $760/oz, based on an exchange rate of R6.75 with the greenback and an oil price of $120 a barrel.

The company said Sunrise Dam recorded more than 150 millimetres of rain in one 24-hour period in February, which caused destructive flash flooding and substantial water inflows into both the open pit and underground, slashing 20,000oz from its production profile for the quarter.

While open pit mining has resumed, underground mining remained suspended for safety reasons, but is expected it achieve normal mining rates in the current quarter.

Meanwhile, its $A740 million Tropicana development in WA is progressing with plant construction due to start early next year.

AngloGold holds a 70% stake in the project, which is set to produce 3.45Moz of gold over a 10-year mine life and at cash costs (including royalties) of $710-730/oz from late 2013, with Independence Group holding the balance.

Tenders have been issued for long lead time items, while detailed engineering design of the plant and infrastructure is underway and will be carried out in parallel with road construction.

The Boston Shaker feasibility study continues with an updated reserve and resource due by June, while a two-year pre-feasibility study on the Havana Deeps deposit kicked off in March.

The study will examine the best options for exploiting this deposit, including mining using an expanded pit with a subsequent underground operation beneath the pit, or a sole underground development below the current planned pit design.

Adjusted headline earnings in the quarter reached $203 million, or 53c a share compared with $61 million or 17c a share for the corresponding period last year, due to improved year-on-year performance from its South African mines and the full impact of higher bullion prices following the elimination of its hedge book.

Cash flow generated from activities was $513 million, while net debt (excluding mandatory convertible bonds) improved by another 15% to $1.1 billion.

"The business is generating strong, steady cash flow now that we're capturing this higher gold price," AngloGold chief executive Mark Cutifani said in a statement.

"We're now focused on driving operational improvements through the business and advancing our growth projects."

Exploration success in Argentina at the Cerro Vanguardia mine came in the form of a high-grade gold and silver hit at 400 metres depth, some 200m beneath current mineralisation, while at La Colosa in Colombia, drilling continues to improve confidence in a potential new orebody.

Tragically, two fatalities were recorded after separate incidents in South Africa and Ghana.

Shares in AngloGold were unchanged in morning trade on $A8.10.