Paulson, the biggest shareholder in AngloGold, last month told investors in his firm Paulson & Co. that the miner might unlock value if it were to split its business between South African assets and those outside the country, according to a letter obtained by Bloomberg News.

Armel Leslie, a spokesman for Paulson & Co., and Stewart Bailey, a spokesman for AngloGold, declined to comment on the potential split of assets. AngloGold is looking at a “range of options” to improve the business, CEO Mark Cutifani said on a Feb. 20 conference call.

Paulson’s firm is the biggest investor in the SPDR Gold Trust, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. His $900 million Gold Fund, which is invested mainly in gold stocks and derivatives, fell 26 percent this year through February, according to a client update obtained earlier this month by Bloomberg News. The fund declined 25 percent in 2012, two people familiar with the matter said in February.

Sibanye Gold

Still, there’s no unanimity that the answer to the gold industry’s plight lies with the breakup of established producers.

Gold Fields has fallen 20 percent in Johannesburg since it spun out its South African assets through the listing of Sibanye Gold Ltd. Feb. 11. The combined market capitalizations of the two companies is 17 percent less than Gold Fields’ value on the last trading day before the split. The Bloomberg Industries index of the largest producers fell 12 percent over the same period.

African Barrick Gold Plc has also disappointed since it was spun off from Barrick in March 2010, dropping 60 percent. The African unit has been dogged by operational setbacks and struggled to meet production targets. Barrick said in January it ended talks on the sale of its majority stake in African Barrick to China National Gold Group Corp. after no agreement was reached.

Bristow Strategy

Randgold, which owns mines and projects in Africa, has risen 13 percent in New York in the past 24 months, compared with a 34 percent decline in the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold and Silver Index of 30 producers. The company may sell one of its smaller assets if it found or acquired “another Kibali,” Bristow said, referring to the Democratic Republic of Congo gold mine that Randgold and AngloGold jointly acquired in 2009.

“That’s a perfect value creation,” Bristow said in a March 6 presentation in Toronto. “We want to have four or five mines, we think 1.5 to 2 million ounces, and focus on the quality.”