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THIS IS GOLD FIELDS Risk management

Risk management and materiality

The overriding purpose of our enterprise risk management (ERM) process is to assist Gold Fields to achieve its strategic and operational objectives and help the company to become as resilient as possible in the current global business environment.

Gold Fields' approach to ERM is based on the requirements of King IV, the South African Corporate Governance Code of Conduct and ISO 31000, the international guideline on risk management. The Group also subscribes to the risk management requirements of the ICMM's 10 Principles.

Gold Fields' ERM process is applied at three broad levels within the business:

  • Strategy: What are the risks and opportunities that drive strategy and those that need to be addressed or leveraged as part of execution of strategy?
  • Operational risk management: How much risk are we exposed to during the pursuit of our operational objectives, is the current risk level acceptable and, if not, what can be done about it?
  • Catastrophic risk management: What major events are we potentially exposed to as part of running our business. How confident are we that they can be avoided? How do we ensure that we understand them and have adequate and effective governance risk and control processes in place to bring them under control?

We also regularly examine emerging global trends, as a multinational company like Gold Fields is shaped by external social, economic and political dynamics in the regions in which it operates

The Group and regional risk heat maps, the top catastrophic risks and key emerging global trends can be found in our Integrated Annual Report 2024

Internal risk management review process and reporting structure

The application of risk management activities is directed at delivery of the balanced scorecard of objectives at each level of the business. Business monitoring, performance management and reporting processes all include an assessment of risk and opportunity and the potential impact on desired outcomes.

At a global level, the Risk Committee and Board are informed of all the significant risks which have been identified as part of these processes and of the associated response strategies. This includes an assessment of the external environment, the potential risk or opportunity implications for the company and how these have been analysed and integrated into our strategy review process.

External materiality assessment

We augment our internal risk perspective with the views of our external investors and other stakeholders via materiality analysis aligned to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Learn more about how we conduct the analysis, our material themes and how we manage what is material

Risk appetite and tolerance

The consequences of the risks we are exposed to can create a variance from where we aim to be in terms of our strategic objectives. The level of variance we can bear without needing to revisit a strategic objective defines our risk appetite (i.e. the amount of risk/uncertainty we are willing to accept in pursuit of that objective), while the level of variance we can accept in relation to a specific goal or target determines our tolerance position. (i.e. how far can we stray from the target without threatening the overall objective?)

To support the achievement of strategic objectives and business plans, and to monitor tolerance positions, Gold Fields has a comprehensive monthly and quarterly business review process in place. Performance is monitored and shortcomings are addressed swiftly and effectively. A colour-coding system is used during presentations to alert executives if targets are being achieved, and enables discussions around remediation measures.

Shortly after the quarterly business reviews are concluded, the Board conducts quarterly governance and oversight meetings, as part of its annual Board cycle, during which significant aspects of the business are comprehensively questioned and reviewed. Any misalignment with Company objectives or good corporate governance is discussed and remedial action requested. This is in line with our formal Approval Framework, which strictly defines decision parameters and risk tolerance.