Gold Fields lowered costs all-in sustaining costs by 3% and boosted production by 12% to 510 000 ounces in the quarter to the end of September compared to the previous quarter ending in June.
This comes after South Deep mine ramped up output by 23% on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Mike Fraser, CEO of Gold Fields said yesterday that the company had recorded material improvement in its operating performance across the portfolio during the quarter under review.
Notable production increased of 10% at Gruyere, 16% from Granny Smith and 11% from Tarkwa as well as 14% from Cerro Corona.
The company’s South Deep operation in South Africa had the highest production increase for the period under review after it ramped up output by 23% to just below 72 000 ounces.
“The higher production (was) underpinned by improved stope availability following positive progress made with backfill rehandling and improved long-hole stope drilling. Access to and turnaround of stopes was therefore markedly improved in the quarter,” explained Fraser.
The mine also made significant progress in rehandling backfill material.
During the period under review, backfill leakage at South Deep was less than 1% of total backfill volumes placed while the reef grade for the mine improved by 15% from 5.53 grams per ton to 6.34 grams per ton as the mine gained access to previous destress areas.
However, production for this year’s period was down by 6% compared to the same September quarter period’s overall output of 542 000 ounces a year ago.
Nonetheless, “a further step-up is expected in Q4 2024, underpinned by continued improvements at Gruyere, St Ives, South Deep, Tarkwa and Cerro Corona,” explained Fraser.
Gold Fields is also expecting the Salares Norte’s operation to deliver its “first meaningful” quarterly contribution in the current period, with the first full year steady-state production expected for 2026.
Production ramp up at Salares Norte had recommenced slightly ahead of the planned plant restart date of 30 September 2024, with the mine producing 198 ounces in the period under review.
Gold Fields focused efforts at Salares Norte during the quarter “on unfreezing and purging remaining material in the primary circuits” while installation of by-pass circuits early in the winter ensured that the main components of the plant continued to run.
Guidance for Salares Norte has remained unchanged for 2024 at 40 000 ounces while next year, the mine’s gold-equivalent production is expected to be between 325 000 ounces and 375 000 ounces.
With all-in sustaining costs falling by 3% in the September quarter compared to June to $1 694 per ounce, all-in costs fell by 5% to $1 909 per ounce.
Net debt in Gold Fields decreased by $30 million during the quarter under review to $11 billion due to the company’s strong cash generation, which however, had been partially offset by payment of the interim dividend of $152m.
“We remain in a strong financial position with a net debt to EBITDA of 0.47x at the end of Q3 2024, compared to 0.53x in Q2 2024,” said Fraser.
“Post the quarter-end we paid $1.39bn net of cash received, in full and final settlement of the Osisko Mining Inc acquisition which was completed on 25 October 2024.”
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