Gold Fields has revealed that output for the final quarter of 2012 is significantly lower than previous years, citing stoppages due to the South African mining strikes as key to the drop in production.
The company announced today that Q4 results to be reported on February 14th are expected to come to a total of 753,000 ounces of gold. This will display a significant drop on both third quarter and last year’s results; with output for Q3 to September weighing in at 811,000 ounces, while Q4 production for 2011 came to 883,000 ounces.
While international contribution to the overall output total was strong, South African production was significantly down at 282,000 ounces as compared to 386,000 ounces in Q3, with the company pointing to the strikes as the reason for the drop in gold production for the quarter.
“The lower production was largely the result of approximately 110,000 ounces lost during the quarter…due to the on-going impact of the prolonged and unprotected strikes at KDC and Beatrix,” the company noted.
“In total 145,000 ounces are estimated to have been lost due to the strikes,” Gold Fields disclosed.
The miner further added that the unit costs in South Africa were negatively impacted by the lowering in production.
Meanwhile, Gold Fields expressed particular satisfaction with its international operations, noting that the combined contribution of international units came to 471,000 ounces for the fourth quarter up from both Q3 and 2011 figures – with output measuring 424,000 ounces in Q3, and 449,000 ounces in the equivalent period of 2011.
Of note, the Tarkwa gold mine in Ghana performed extremely well, contributing 187,800 ounces in the final quarter increasing from 169,400 ounces in Q3.
With respect to the Beatrix and KDC South African gold mines the company reiterated that the upcoming results revealed in February will be the last time Gold Fields reports on the two operations; the company recently having announced the unbundling of said operations and the establishment of Sibanye Gold, which is to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on February 11th.
