The world's third biggest gold producer AngloGold Ashanti Ltd on Thursday unveiled a 63 percent rise in second-quarter adjusted earnings to $140 million.

Earnings per share, excluding non-realized financial effects from derivatives at the South African gold producer, rose to 51 U.S. cents for the three months to June from 32 cents in the previous quarter, AngloGold said in a statement.

This was below a mean forecast of 56 cents, with a range of 46 to 69 U.S. cents, from eight analysts polled by Reuters.

AngloGold said earnings were up due to higher output, which rose by 6 percent to 1.415 million ounces of gold, with total cash costs down 1.0 percent to $305/oz.

A higher gold price also contributed to the improved results, with the price up 10 percent to $600/oz.