Gold Fields Production and Costs for Q1 F2010 in Line With Guidance
October 01 2009 - 5:15AM
PR Newswire (US)
JOHANNESBURG, October 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gold Fields
Limited (Gold Fields) (JSE, NYSE, NASDAQ Dubai: GFI) today
confirmed that production and costs for Q1 F2010 is in line with
the guidance provided on 6 August 2009. Attributable production for
the quarter was approximately 906koz, while total cash cost and
Notional Cash Expenditure (NCE1) for the Group are expected to be
approximately US$590/oz and US$835/oz respectively, despite the
Rand exchange rate achieved during the quarter being stronger than
the rate used in the guidance. South Africa Region Q1 F2010
production from the South Africa Region was approximately 16,385kg
(527koz), compared with 16,447kg (529koz) achieved in Q4 F2009,
with the individual mines performing as follows: - Driefontein
produced approximately 5,892kg (190koz); - Kloof produced
approximately 5,024kg (161koz); - Beatrix produced approximately
3,437kg (111koz); and - South Deep produced approximately 2,032
(65koz). West Africa Region Q1 F2010 production from the West
Africa Region increased marginally to 226koz, compared with 218koz
achieved in Q4 F2009, with the individual mines performing as
follows: - Tarkwa produced approximately 175koz; and - Damang
produced approximately 51koz. Australasia Region Q1 F2010
production from the Australasia Region decreased marginally to
146koz, compared with 154koz achieved in Q4 F2009, with the
individual mines performing as follows: - St Ives produced
approximately 100koz; and - Agnew produced approximately 46koz.
South America Region Cerro Corona in Peru had another strong
quarter with production, on a gold equivalent basis, increasing
marginally to 88koz, compared with 84koz achieved in Q4 F2009.The
88koz produced in Q1 F2010 comprises 33koz of gold and 9 tons of
copper. Nick Holland, Chief Executive Officer of Gold Fields, said:
"Our results for Q1 F2010 will be broadly in line with guidance."
"We are particularly pleased with the good progress achieved during
Q1 F2010 at South Deep and Beatrix in South Africa, and at Tarkwa
in Ghana. Beatrix continued the turn-around achieved during the
previous quarter by reporting a further 8% increase in production
to 111koz. South Deep continued to build up towards its F2010
target of 300koz for the year by reporting a further 25%
improvement in production to 65koz. Tarkwa achieved its guidance of
175koz, despite the impact of wage negotiations late in the
quarter. The expanded CIL plant reported a record month in August
during which it exceeded its name plate capacity of one million
tons milled per month, and is now performing consistently at name
plate capacity level." "Both Driefontein and Kloof had a difficult
quarter mainly as a result of safety related stoppages late in Q4
F2009, which affected production early in Q1 F2010. 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 6.5 tons of gold per quarter for Driefontein and 5.5
tons for Kloof. After safety, ore reserve development is receiving
priority attention at all of our mines, to create the flexibility
required to maintain sustainable production at higher levels. As
flexibility improves over the next 12 to 24 months we expect all of
the South African mines to achieve greater stability,
predictability and consistency in their performance." "St Ives did
not achieve its guidance mainly as a result of the rehabilitation
work in a high grade area of the Belleisle underground mine,
following a geotechnical fall of ground in the previous quarter,
taking longer than expected to complete due to safety concerns. The
additional ground support required to ensure safe production after
this event was completed by the end of August and the integrity of
the infrastructure, in particular to access the new Belleisle
extension, is intact. In addition St Ives experienced an unexpected
high lock-up of gold at the end of the quarter, which is expected
to reverse itself during Q2 F2010." "Despite the actual Rand
exchange rate of R7.82 against the US Dollar for the quarter being
about two per cent stronger than the rate of R8.00 used in the
guidance, the Group again achieved a satisfactory cost performance
with cash costs expected to come in on guidance at US$590/oz and
NCE slightly better than guidance at US$835/oz." "Notwithstanding
the challenges at Driefontein, Kloof and St Ives during the
quarter, I am pleased with the overall performance of the Group. I
am satisfied that the appropriate interventions are being made for
Driefontein, Kloof and St Ives to return to more acceptable levels
of production over the coming quarters, and for the Group to build
up to its production target of between 925koz to 950koz per quarter
over the remainder of the year." 1 NCE is operating costs plus all
sustaining and project capital (brownfields exploration is included
in NCE). 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. DATASOURCE: Gold Fields Limited
CONTACT: Media and Investor Enquiries: Willie Jacobsz, Tel:
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Catrakilis-Wagner, Tel: +27-11-562-9706, Mobile: +27(0)83-309-6720,
Email: ; Julian Gwillim, Tel: +27-11-562-9774, Mobile:
+27(0)82-452-4389, Email:
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