Gold Fields Expected to Beat Guidance and Increase Production by 4% to Approximately 905koz During Q4 F2009
June 26 2009 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
JOHANNESBURG, June 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gold Fields Limited
(Gold Fields) (JSE, NYSE, NASDAQ Dubai: GFI) today updated its
operational guidance for Q4 F2009. Attributable production for Q4
F2009 is expected to increase by about 4% to approximately 905koz,
which is better than the guidance provided on 7 May 2009. Total
cash cost and Notional Cash Expenditure (NCE)(1) for the Group are
expected to be slightly higher than guidance at approximately
US$525/oz and US$750/oz. This is solely due to converting at a much
stronger rand/US dollar exchange rate. South African Region
Attributable Q4 F2009 production from the South African mines is
expected to increase by about 2% to approximately 16,400kg
(520koz), compared with 16,088kg (517koz) achieved in Q3 F2009,
with the individual mines expected to perform as follows: -
Driefontein is expected to produce approximately 6,600kg (212koz);
- Kloof is expected to produce approximately 4,990kg (160koz); -
South Deep is expected to produce approximately 1,600 (52koz) and -
Beatrix is expected to produce approximately 3,200kg (103koz).
During the quarter production at both Driefontein and Kloof was
impacted by increased levels of seismicity resulting in safety
related production interruptions. As expected, both South Deep and
Beatrix showed improved performances during the quarter, with South
Deep now having positioned itself well for increased production
during F2010, and Beatrix starting to recover from the mining
quality issues that plagued it during Q2 F2009 and Q3 F2009.
International Regions Attributable Q4 F2009 production from the
international mines is expected to increase by about 6% to
approximately 377koz, compared with 354koz achieved in Q3 F2009,
with the individual mines expected to perform as follows: - Tarkwa
is expected to produce approximately 165koz; - Damang is expected
to produce approximately 53koz; - St Ives is expected to produce
approximately 109koz; - Agnew is expected to produce approximately
45koz; and - Cerro Corona is expected to produce 37,500 oz gold and
9,400 tons copper which equates to approximately 84koz on a gold
equivalent basis. During the quarter all of the international
operations performed broadly as expected with Cerro Corona and
Agnew outperforming. While marginally below guidance, the build-up
at Tarkwa is progressing to plan. The variance from guidance was
partially as a result of power interruptions caused by unplanned
maintenance on the national power supply grid. Nick Holland, Chief
Executive Officer of Gold Fields, said: "The important feature of
Q4 F2009 is that our operations have generally shown greater
consistency and predictability in their performance, enabling us to
achieve our overall operational guidance for the quarter." "I am
particularly pleased that, despite the seismic related safety
incidents at Kloof and Driefontein, our safety performance
continued to improve. With F2009 almost complete, our fatal
injuries have shown an improvement of approximately 57%, declining
from 47 in F2008 to 20 in F2009, with no fatalities reported at our
international mines. All other safety measures have also shown
significant improvements. We are not yet happy with this
performance and remain committed not to mine if we cannot mine
safely and to achieve zero harm to our employees." "Gold Fields
will in Q4 F2009, for the third consecutive quarter, maintain the
upward trend in its attributable production, and will be more than
100koz (13%) above the production low-point of 798koz reported in
Q1 F2009." "We remain committed, during the next 12 months, to
build up to our production goal of 950koz to 1moz per quarter, as
safety continues to improve at the South African operations; Tarkwa
achieves full production; Beatrix continues its recovery; Kloof
improves as a result of improved flexibility; and South Deep builds
up towards its target of approximately 300koz for F2010." Detailed
results for Q4 F2009 will be published on 6 August, 2009, at
08:00am South African time. 1 NCE is operating costs plus all
sustaining and project capital (brownfields exploration is included
in NCE). About Gold Fields Gold Fields Limited is one of the
world's largest unhedged producers of gold with attributable steady
state production of approximately 4 million ounces per annum from
nine operating mines in South Africa, Peru, Ghana and Australia.
The company has total attributable ore reserves of 83 million
ounces and mineral resources of 251 million ounces. Gold Fields is
listed on the JSE Limited (primary listing), New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ Dubai Limited (NASDAQ Dubai), NYSE Euronext
in Brussels (NYX) and Swiss Exchange (SWX). For more information
please visit the Gold Fields website at
http://www.goldfields.co.za/. DATASOURCE: Gold Fields Limited
CONTACT: Enquiries: Willie Jacobsz, Mobile: +1-857-241-7127, Nikki
Catrakilis-Wagner, Mobile: +27(0)83-309-6720
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