Gold Fields to Spend A$125 Million on a New Mill at St Ives, Western Australia
November 20 2003 - 7:07AM
PR Newswire (US)
Gold Fields to Spend A$125 Million on a New Mill at St Ives,
Western Australia JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov. 20
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gold Fields Limited , today announced
plans to construct a new A$125 million, 4.5 million ton per year
gold ore processing facility at its St Ives operation at Kambalda,
south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The new mill will be
designed to boost annual production to approximately 600,000 ounces
per year and is expected to reduce plant-operating costs by between
A$4 and A$5 per ton. With the expectation of productivity
improvements and further discoveries at St Ives, the mill will be
designed for ready expansion to 7-million tons per year throughput
capacity, enabling the potential future exploitation of additional
large, lower-grade areas of the resource. While the current St Ives
reserves of 3 million ounces will provide an estimated mine life of
around 6 years, recently drilled mining inventory indicate a mine
life of 9 years. John Munro, Head of International Operations for
Gold Fields said the future for St Ives was exciting, driven
primarily by the encouraging exploration results encountered since
Gold Fields started an intensified drilling programme two years
ago, and optimisation opportunities that are now being realised.
"This investment will provide the platform for ongoing optimisation
of the site, ensuring that St Ives remains a world class gold
asset", said Munro. "This investment complements the recently
announced US$159 million expansion at the Tarkwa mine in Ghana. The
commitment of some US$250 million to these two mines underlines the
potential of Gold Fields' offshore assets and the continued drive
for organic growth at a time when acquisitions offer marginal
returns", said Munro. "We are focused on complete optimisation of
the resource and the site. The aim is to expand and simplify all
operations on the mine and reduce unit costs to ensure that the
potential of the St Ives resource base can be fully exploited",
Munro said. The decision for the new mill follows a two-year
expanded exploration programme on the core tenements, culminating
in a final feasibility study that was completed this month. The new
plant will replace the existing high unit operating cost 3.1
million ton per year facility, which is reaching the end of its
useful economic operating life. In addition to the new plant it is
currently planned to continue the existing heap leach operations at
St Ives at the current rate of 2.2 million ton per annum.
Exploration expenditure of more than A$50 million over the past two
years has led to the discovery of more than 2 million ounces at the
site. This high rate of exploration expenditure is planned to
continue for the next one to two years to further delineate the
potential of this prospective camp. Gold Fields Vice-President and
Head of Australian Operations, Steven Banning, said the expansion
and optimisation of St Ives will provide the foundation for a
sustainable employment base at Kambalda. "Gold Fields is taking a
long term view with its investment in St Ives," Banning said. "We
expect a long prosperous life, not just for the mine but also for
Kambalda and Kalgoorlie. Both communities have gone out of their
way to welcome Gold Fields into the Australian gold mining scene
and we look forward to being a major gold contributor in the region
well into the future", he added. Gold Fields is the world's largest
unhedged gold company, with annual attributable gold production of
4.33 million ounces and attributable Mineral Resources of 196
million ounces and Mineral Reserves of 84 million ounces. It has
operations in South Africa, Australia and Ghana (West Africa) and
gold and platinum group metals exploration projects throughout the
world. The company's primary listing is on the Johannesburg
Securities Exchange in South Africa (GFI) with secondary listings
on the London, Euronext, Paris, Brussels, and Swiss exchanges. The
company's American Depositary shares are listed on the New York
Stock Exchange, also under the symbol GFI. DATASOURCE: Gold Fields
Limited CONTACT: SOUTH AFRICA - Willie Jacobsz, Senior Manager,
Corporate Affairs & Investor Relations, Office -
+27-11-644-2460, Mobile - +27-82-493-1377, , or NORTH AMERICA -
Cheryl A Martin, Senior Vice President, North American Investor
Relations, Office - +1-303-796-8683, fax - +303-796-8293, , all for
Gold Fields Limited
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