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Gold Fields Expected to Beat Guidance and Increase Production by 4% to Approximately 905koz During Q4 F2009
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
"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
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
SOURCE Gold Fields Limited