South Deep Acquisition Finalised, Equity Raising Successfully Completed and Western Areas Hedge Retired
May 03 2007 - 3:58AM
PR Newswire (US)
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gold
Fields Limited (NYSE & JSE: GFI) today announced net earnings
excluding gains and losses on foreign exchange and exceptional
items for the March 2007 quarter of R512 million compared with R564
million in the December 2006 quarter and R397 million for the
restated March quarter of 2006. In US dollar terms net earnings
excluding gains and losses on foreign exchange and exceptional
items for the March 2007 quarter were US$71 million compared with
US$76 million in the December 2006 quarter and US$63 million for
the restated March quarter of 2006. March 2007 quarter salient
features: - Acquisition of South Deep finalised as remaining
Western Areas Limited shares purchased; - Equity raising
successfully completed with gross proceeds received of R10.3
billion (US$1.4 billion), used to retire debt of R8.8 billion
(US$1.2 billion); - Western Areas hedge retired cost effectively in
a rising gold price environment by generating realised gains of
US$21 million on the long gold delta position. A further US$20
million of marked to market losses were avoided based on the gold
price as at the end of March of US$663 per ounce; - Attributable
gold production 989,000 ounces at a cash cost of US$399 per ounce.
Ian Cockerill, Chief Executive Officer of Gold Fields, said: "This
quarter has been extremely challenging for Gold Fields. All
operations with the exception of Driefontein showed a drop in
production due to a combination of lower grades, volume and a slow
start up post the Christmas break in South Africa, while Choco 10
continues to suffer as a result of water shortages. Unit cash costs
have risen as a result of lower production. While the increase in
the rand gold price achieved more than offset the lower production
resulting in a 3 per cent increase in revenue, we are very focused
on ensuring that our shareholders get the benefit of a higher gold
price through increased earnings. As a result we have instituted a
Group wide effort focusing on four key components of operational
excellence, namely, safety and health, quality gold production,
unit cost control and improved productivity. Delivery on these
initiatives will see better performances from the operations in
coming quarters." The full results are available on the Gold Fields
website: http://www.goldfields.co.za/ DATASOURCE: Gold Fields
Limited CONTACT: Gold Fields Limited: Reg. 1968/004880/06, 24 St
Andrews Road, Parktown, 2193, Postnet Suite 252, Private Bag
X30500, Houghton, 2041, South Africa, Tel +27-11-644-2400, Fax
+27-11-484-0639, http://www.goldfields.co.za/; Enquires: South
Africa: Willie Jacobsz, Tel +27-11-644-2460, Fax +27-11-484-0639, ;
Nerina Bodasing, Tel +27-11-644-2630, Fax +27-11-484-0639,
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