Gold Fields - The Complete Gold Company - Releases F2005 Annual Report & Reserves and Resources Statement
October 03 2005 - 7:06AM
PR Newswire (US)
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, October 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Gold Fields Limited (JSE:GFI)(NYSE:GFI) today launched its Annual
Report for the 2005 Financial Year together with the updated
Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve Statement under the banner 'Gold
Fields - the complete gold company'. The report was mailed to
shareholders on Thursday, 29 September 2005. Chairman's Message In
his message to shareholders contained in the Annual Report,
Chairman Chris Thompson stated, "Despite the distractions of the
year, the company's performance was remarkable; a testament to the
strength of our management and asset quality. There can be no doubt
that Gold Fields' operations are professionally and competently
managed. Mining operations are well planned and engineered,
accounts are conservatively struck and internal controls
increasingly more effective." He went on to identify the three
principal strategic issues facing the Group, "First, despite
substantial inward investment over the past decade, the South
African mines are mature, getting deeper and face declining grades
and rising costs. Gold Fields is bound to become increasingly
international, using its South African base as the platform from
which to grow globally.' "The second strategic issue for Gold
Fields is the difficulty in finding value-adding growth
opportunities elsewhere in the world. Inflation in capital,
operating and transport costs generally is affecting the economics
of new projects almost everywhere which, when combined with the
social and political risks of entering countries where gold is
found, makes growth a challenge.' "Third is meeting the demands for
transformation in South Africa embodied principally in the Mining
Charter and BEE movements. The transaction with Mvelaphanda remains
a landmark example of a responsible BEE transaction. A significant
challenge for the next few years will be for Gold Fields to meet
the target for transformational representation in management. Also,
although Gold Fields has not yet received its new order mining
rights, it is in good compliance with the criteria set by the
Mining Charter and anticipates that the new order mining rights
will be issued in F2006." Chief Executive's Review Summarising the
2005 financial year, Chief Executive Officer Ian Cockerill
described it as "Challenging but successful, with the Group
delivering a sound operating performance. The fluctuating rand/US
dollar exchange rate mitigated against optimising our rand income,
while the attempted hostile takeover bid by Harmony was
successfully defeated. The international expansion projects at
Tarkwa and St Ives were completed ahead of expectation and their
benefits are expected to make a significant contribution to Gold
Fields' bottom line. The South African mines have been successfully
repositioned with a strategy aimed at improving quality volumes and
have recorded an overall robust cost performance since September
2003.' He continued, "I would like to pay tribute to all Gold
Fields' stakeholders who stood by us during the Harmony hostile
bid, be they employees or investors. We undertake to justify their
confidence in Gold Fields by improving the Group's performance and
strengthening our shareholders' investment." Reserves and Resources
The annual attributable reserve depletion by Gold Fields was 4.5
million ounces of gold during F2005 and the Group remains intent on
realising an additional 1.5 million ounces per annum of production
from its international operations by the end of 2009. As at the end
of June 2005, Gold Fields had attributable Reserves of 64.8 million
ounces, which is 14.2 million ounces less than in the previous
year. The reduction of 14.2 million ounces includes the 10.9
million ounces associated with the Eastern Boundary Area (EBA),
which was reclassified to resource status pending re-engineering,
as well as the total mining depletion of 4.5 million referred to
above. The reclassification of the EBA from reserve to resource was
as a result of new geological information acquired during the year.
Outlook Looking forward to F2006, Ian Cockerill noted, "We expect
the rand to remain strong during F2006 given the robustness of the
local economy and the continued weakness of the US dollar. Input
costs will increase as a result of the higher wage environment and
rising energy costs, particularly petroleum based products. Costs
are therefore expected to remain under pressure. However, there are
indications that the dollar gold price will continue its secular
upward trend." Objectives Finally, Ian Cockerill set out the
Group's main objectives for F2006: - Raising safety performance by
a further 10% towards the global standard benchmark - Increasing
gold production beyond 4.3 million ounces - Group costs targeted at
or below R66,000 per kilogram - South African costs targeted at or
below R70,000 per kilogram - Productivity improvements of 10% in
the South African operations to reach 4.3 square metres per total
employee costed - Completion of the Cerro Corona feasibility study
and, if positive, commencing development - The replenishment of
depleted ounces through exploration success or the acquisition of
new ounces. DATASOURCE: Gold Fields Limited CONTACT: Enquires:
South Africa, Willie Jacobsz, Tel +27-11-644-2630 Fax
+27-11-484-0639 Nerina Bodasing, Tel +27-11-644-2460 Fax
+27-11-484-0639 North America, Cheryl A Martin, Tel +1-303-796-8683
Fax +1-303-796-8293
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