Gold Fields On Friday, for the second time this year, it lowered its annual production forecast.after unusually harsh winter conditions hampered a planned increase in production in a new mine in Chile.
The Johannesburg-based gold miner’s initial goal of increasing production at its Salares Norte mine in Chile had proven “ambitious”after a harsh winter caused some pipes at its processing plant to freeze, Chief Executive Mike Fraser told Reuters on Friday. mining company shares fell nearly 6% in early trading in Johannesburg, hitting a two-month low.
The CEO added that freezing weather conditions caused the company to lose two months of production time at the mine, located in the Atacama region in northern Peru. Chili. “The big lesson is that trying to ramp up production over the winter was a mistake,” Fraser said, adding that despite the delays, the mine The $1 billion company is poised to reap higher profits after starting gold production in March this year.
Gold Fields It said its 2024 production is now forecast to be around 7% lower, at between 2 million ounces and 2.15 million ounces, which would be its lowest level since 2013, when it sold some of its South African mines to Sibanye Stillwater.The forecast cut is the second this year after Gold Fields revised downwards in June its expectations, which had initially been set at 2.43 million ounces of gold.
Gold Fields began building the Salares Norte mine in 2020, but delays caused by the COVID They have also slowed down their progressThe mine, with a full design capacity of approximately 580,000 ounces, is key to Gold Fields increase production to about 2.8 million ounces per year.
The South African company has turned its attention away from its homeland to more lucrative deposits in Ghana, Australia and America. Earlier this month, it agreed to buy Canadian miner Osisko OSK.TO for about $1.57 billion in a deal that could help it grow in the Americas.
ANDGold Fields’ profit plummeted 30% to $320.7 millionin the six-month period ended June 30, hit by a decline in gold production. It also suffered setbacks in production at its South Deep mine in South Africa and Gruyere in Australia.
