[miningmx.com] – HARMONY Gold’s South African operations have
delivered the goods for the group, enabling the company to make mint of the higher
gold price during the past financial year.
Reporting quarterly and annual results for the period to end-June on Thursday,
Harmony said its operating profit for the year increased by 80% to R5.9bn, enabling
it to more than double headline earnings per share to 551 cents. The group
generated a net profit of R2.6bn, a four-fold increase on the R617m of 2011, and
declared a final dividend of R216m at 50 cents per share. The total dividend declared
for 2012 amounts to 90 cents per share.
With respect to production, the year’s was slightly down by 2% at 1,274,520 ounces,
with cash operating costs up to $1,085/oz.
CEO Graham Briggs didn’t want to convey much information about the pre-feasibility
results of the company’s “game-changing’ Wafi-Golpu resource in Papua New
Guinea, saying this information would be shared with the market at the company’s
investor day on August 29.
However, he said the profitability of the group would enable it to fund its growth
projects from self-generated cash and existing facilities. “Raising money is not on
our cards at all at this stage,’ he said.
