Gold Fields aims for 1m oz a quarter

I-Net Bridge | Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:22

[miningmx.com] -- Gold Fields, the world's fourth largest gold producer, on Thursday said it was still aiming to produce 1 million ounces a quarter.

The group reported attributable gold production of 900,000 ounces for the December 2009 quarter, which is 1% lower than the 906,000 ounces produced in the September quarter but 7% higher than the 839,000 ounces produced in the December quarter 2008.

Gold Fields has forecast output of 850,000 ounces in the current quarter to end March.

Vishnu Pillay, head of South African operations at Gold Fields, said regional production had been hit by unplanned work stoppages mostly related to safety.

In calendar 2009, the company lost 76 days or 7% of production shifts to these unplanned stoppages, which translated into a loss of 2,200 kg.

During the quarter to end December 2009 South African production decreased marginally from 527,000 ounces to 523,000 ounces.

December quarter production at South Deep increased by 10% to 72,000 ounces mainly due to higher underground volumes as the mine builds its production base.

Gold Fields said South Deep remains on-track to deliver its 300,000 ounce target for the fiscal year.

Beatrix maintained its consistency with gold production at 107,000 ounces was similar quarter-on-quarter despite lower yields.

Gold production at Kloof came in at 157,000 ounces, was only 5,000 ounces lower than the September quarter despite lower volumes resulting from a mine wide safety stoppage following a fatality.

Production at Driefontein was 3,00 ounces down at 187,000 despite a seven day mine wide safety stoppage as a result of a seismic event, which resulted in lower volumes mined and processed from the higher grade areas.

Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland said both Kloof and Driefontein's performances in the earlier part of the quarter were robust and the end result was that their production was similar quarter-on-quarter.

"That said, both operations can and should do better, and our focus during 2010 is to achieve greater consistency at these two flagship operations," Holland said.

Attributable gold production at the West African operations decreased by 4% from 161,000 ounces to 155,000 ounces in the quarter.

At the West African operations, managed gold production at Tarkwa decreased by 1% mainly due to lower volumes mined and lower yields while gold output at Damang decreased by 12% due to a 13 day accelerated mill re-build.

Tarkwa had a steady quarter and looks set for a good 2010, said Holland, who acknowledged that Damang was affected by the mill rebuild but he said it should sustain this operation well into the future.

"We look forward to an improved performance from West Africa over the next half year, as a result of improved efficiencies and throughput," Holland said.

In South America, Holland said optimisation strategies continued to deliver outstanding results at Cerro Corona.

Attributable equivalent gold production at the South American operation increased by 11% from 72,000 ounces in the September quarter to 79,000 ounces in the December quarter.

Cerro Corona produced 98,400 equivalent ounces and sold 99,900 equivalent ounces, which is 11% and 12% higher than the previous quarter respectively.

At the Australian operations gold production decreased by 2% from 146,000 ounces to 143,000 ounces.

While Agnew's gold production increased by 2% due to higher volumes processed, output at St Ives, dropped 4% mainly due to lower underground grades from Belleisle.