[miningmx.com] — HARMONY Gold posted a more than three-fold increase in quarterly earnings on Monday, beating expectations on bullion’s record run.
The average gold price in the July-September quarter was up about 13% from the previous quarter, at just over $1,700 an ounce. In rand terms, the gold price was up 20% because of weakness in the South African currency.
“The increased rand/kg gold price received during the September 2011 quarter continued to strengthen Harmony’s profit levels,” the company said in a statement.
A weaker rand is a bigger benefit for Harmony than its rivals, because about 90 percent of its output comes out of the ground in South Africa, a much higher percentage than AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields.
South African miners sell gold for dollars but costs in rand, meaning a weaker rand fattens their bottom line.
Harmony said production during the three months to the end of September was up 0.5% to 328,162 ounces as it was hampered by a wage strike that shut the mines for five days.
Harmony’s headline earnings per share, the main profit gauge in South Africa, soared to 95 cents in the quarter from 30 cents in the previous quarter, above an average estimate of 90 cents in a Reuters poll of six analysts.
Harmony’s share price is up 24% so far this year, outperforming the wider gold mining index on the Johannesburg bourse, which is up about 13.6%.
