Gold Fields to step back from deal-making as finances tighten

Nick Holland, CEO, Gold Fields. Pic: Martin Rhodes

GOLD Fields would not pursue additional acquisitions this year and would seek a partner to help it finance its Salares Norte project in Peru, said Reuters which cited the comments of Nick Holland, CEO of the Johannesburg-headquartered gold producer.

Holland added that the firm’s finances might be “a little negative” this year before improving again in the 2019 financial year. “We don’t want to really stretch ourselves,” Holland said in an interview at the International Gold & Silver Symposium in Peru.

“The strategy of the company now is more focused on organic brownfields, near-mine growth, in and around where we are,” Holland said. In March, Gold Fields announced it was spending $202.6m on a partnership with Asanko Gold in Ghana. It had previously set down plans to expand its presence through brownfields expansion in the West African country, as well as new developments in Western Australia.

 

The company might seek out a junior partner to help finance Salares Norte, which is estimated to cost $850m. “That’s a big cheque to pay,” said Holland. “We want to build it, for sure … we’re just trying to figure out if we should do it on our own,” he told Reuters.