Operating Profit of R2.8 Billion and Net Earnings of R1.0 Billion in the Quarter Ended September 2009
* Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release.
Operating Profit of R2.8 Billion and Net Earnings of R1.0 Billion in the
Quarter Ended September 2009
JOHANNESBURG, October 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gold Fields Limited
Gold Fields Limited (Gold Fields) (JSE, NYSE, NASDAQ Dubai: GFI) today
announced net earnings for the September 2009 quarter of R1,007 million,
compared with a loss of R293 million and net earnings of R39 million for the
June 2009 and the September 2008 quarters respectively. In US dollar terms
net earnings for the September 2009 quarter were US$129 million, compared
with a loss of US$29 million and net earnings of US$5 million for the June
2009 and the September 2008 quarters respectively.
September 2009 quarter salient features:
- Attributable gold production at 906,000 ounces was in line
with the previous quarter;
- Total cash cost increased 5 per cent from R140,916 per kilogram (US$512
per ounce) to R147,343 per kilogram (US$586 per ounce);
- Notional cash expenditure increased 2 per cent from R203,042
per kilogram (US$738 per ounce) to R207,754 per kilogram (US$826 per
ounce);
- Net debt at R6.7 billion (US$908 million) is robust at 0.58
of annual EBITDA;
- Post quarter end announcement of 271 million ounces of
mineral resources and 81 million ounces of mineral reserves for F2010;
- Royalty payable by St Ives terminated for a total
consideration of A$308 million;
- Stake in Eldorado sold for US$299 million, following the
exchange of Sino shares for Eldorado shares.
Statement by Nick Holland, Chief Executive Officer of Gold Fields:
"Despite a challenging quarter at Driefontein and Kloof, where safety
related interruptions had a material effect on their respective production
levels, Gold Fields maintained its production in line with the guidance
provided on 6 August 2009, thus demonstrating greater stability and
consistency in the production results of the Group.
We are extremely disappointed with the six fatalities during the quarter,
and have again redoubled our efforts to reinforce the commitment of every
person in Gold Fields to operate safely. Safety is our number one value and
we remain committed not to mine if we cannot mine safely, and to improve even
further on the record safety year that we had during F2009.
Particularly pleasing during the past quarter has been the outstanding
performances from Cerro Corona, Beatrix and South Deep, all of which exceeded
their guidance, and Tarkwa which came in on guidance. Consistent performances
were also delivered from Agnew and Damang.
In the South Africa Region, Beatrix continued to build on the turn around
that it started during the previous quarter by again increasing its
production by 7 per cent. South Deep also had a very encouraging quarter,
continuing the build-up to its 300koz target for F2010, by improving its
production by 26 per cent. Driefontein and Kloof, by contrast, both had very
difficult quarters after a slow start-up caused by the spill-over effects of
safety stoppages late in the June quarter. As development and flexibility
improves over the next 12 to 24 months we expect these mines to improve their
performance. We believe that both Driefontein and Kloof can and should do
better, and the focus remains on returning these operations to a production
level of approximately 209koz of gold per quarter for Driefontein and 177koz
for Kloof.
St Ives had a disappointing quarter, its production being 9 per cent
below the previous quarter. This was mainly as a result of the rehabilitation
work in a high grade area of the Belleisle underground mine taking longer
than expected due to safety concerns. We look forward to a stronger
performance from St Ives over the next quarterly period. Agnew had a
satisfactory quarter with production levels similar to the previous quarter.
With the Tarkwa CIL plant now having stabilised at its nameplate capacity
of more than a million tons milled per month, the West Africa Region is well
positioned. Tarkwa is now capable of producing between 190koz and 200koz per
quarter and we hope to see a strong movement towards this range during the
December quarter. This is, however, subject to resolution of the current
industrial relations situation affecting the gold sector in Ghana, which
continues to be tense following protracted wage negotiations which, at the
time of writing, are not close to resolution.
The Group has achieved a solid cost performance during the first quarter.
Despite the Rand exchange rate of R7.82 against the US Dollar being about two
per cent stronger than the rate of R8.00 used in our guidance for the
quarter, our cash costs came in on guidance at US$586/oz and our NCE slightly
better than guidance at US$826/oz.
We look forward to further improvements in our performance during the
December quarter and our aim is to increase production to approximately
925,000 ounces in this next quarter."
The full results are available on the Gold Fields website:
http://www.goldfields.co.za
About Gold Fields
Gold Fields is one of the world's largest unhedged producers of gold with
attributable production of 3.6 million ounces* per annum from nine operating
mines in South Africa, Ghana, Australia and Peru. Gold Fields also has an
extensive growth pipeline with both greenfields and near mine exploration
projects at various stages of development. Gold Fields has total attributable
Mineral Reserves of 81 million ounces and Mineral Resources of 271 million
ounces. Gold Fields is listed on JSE Limited (primary listing), the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX), the
Euronext in Brussels (NYX) and the Swiss Exchange (SWX).
For more information please visit the Gold Fields website at
http://www.goldfields.co.za.
*Based on the annualised run rate for the fourth quarter of F2009
SOURCE Gold Fields Limited
Enquiries: Willie Jacobsz, Mobile: +1-857-241-7127; Nikki Catrakilis-Wagner,
Mobile: +27(0)83-309-6720
Comments (0)
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.



Follow Reuters