Gold Fields wants more of its Ghana mines

Brendan Ryan | Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:08

[miningmx.com] -- GOLD Fields would be interested in buying the 19% minority stakes owned in its Tarkwa and Damang gold mines in Ghana by TSX-listed partner Iamgold according to CEO Nick Holland .

Replying to a question by JP Morgan Cazenove analyst Allan Cooke at a presentation in Johannesburg Holland commented, “Iamgold has made no secret of the fact they are looking at their ownership structure with the investments in Tarkwa and Damang potentially up for some kind of disposal.

“We own 71% of those mines and it would be a logical outcome if we were able to acquire those stakes. The question is whether we can put a deal together. It’s something that does occupy our minds but we will have to see what happens.”

Tarkwa and Damang together produced 479,000oz of gold in the six months to end-December indicating an annualized production target of 860,000oz for the financial year to end-June.

Gold Fields’ strategy is to push production from the West Africa region to about 1m oz annually by 2015 as part of the campaign to increase group production to 5m oz/year by then.

The latest mineral resources and mineral reserves statement from Gold Fields released on Thursday reported a 13% decrease in mineral reserves at Tarkwa since June 2009 but an 8% and 14% rise respectively in mineral resources and mineral reserves at Damang.

According to Gold Fields the greater Damang complex has the potential to increase its operational footprint. The current life of mine at Damang extends to 2019 and management has embarked on an accelerated exploration programme to maintain a pipeline of quality projects at the complex.

Holland added, “I have been saying for some time that we should own 100% of the operations we manage. We are the best placed to make a sensible offer and, if there’s a sensible deal to be done, then we will consider it.”

The writer owns shares in Gold Fields.