President Mbeki has been forced to back down

Last year the government estimated about 4.7 million South Africans - one in nine - were HIV positive.

It has been widely criticised for not doing enough to combat the epidemic and provide access to treatment.

President Thabo Mbeki, who has in the past come under fire for questioning the link between HIV and Aids, has now pledged to provide strong leadership in the fight against Aids.

Company efforts

"We estimate that HIV/Aids is currently increasing costs in the South African operations by between $4 and $6 an ounce, though there are reasonable prospects of reducing this with the range of activities that we have in place," said AngloGold Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bobby Godsell.

The company - South Africa's largest gold producer - estimates that the extra cost would rise to $9 an ounce if it did nothing to manage the epidemic. Gold currently sells at about $305 an ounce.

Anglogold said efforts to combat the disease focused on prevention, care for those infected and health research, including the search for an Aids vaccine.

South Africa is thought to have the most HIV/Aids patients in the world

However the mining industry has been accused by unions and activists of ignoring the impact of the epidemic on its hundreds of thousands of workers.

South Africa's gold mines have been built by migrant workers living in single-sex hostels far from their homes - an ideal breeding ground for sexually transmitted disease.

Spreading the message

President Mbeki this week accepted that his government had failed to communicate its policies on Aids effectively.

In an interview with a South African newspaper on Wednesday, he promised to provide strong leadership on the issue subject in future.

"You can't be going around having promiscuous sex... and hope that you won't be affected by something or other," he said.

"You have to inculcate into the minds of people that they, too, have a responsibility for their health," he said.

The interview follows a cabinet meeting last week that resulted in a policy shift on Aids.