Mineral Resources and Reserves summary
This condensed summary should be read in conjunction with the Gold Fields Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Supplement that is set out to provide relevant details on the Company's Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves as at 31 December 2017. In addition to providing transparent and compliant information in accordance with the SAMREC Code, 2016 edition, the Supplement highlights issues viewed as material to reporting the Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates per mining asset and growth project.
The Company's current investment programme is configured to drive Mineral Resource and Reserve development and deliver returns from the asset portfolio over the years ahead through the replacement of production depletion, organic growth, increased flexibility and life extension. Gold Fields' investment in operating mines, projects and corporate development has retained a strongly positive outlook and has been integral to maintaining a steady year-on-year Group Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve position, despite depletion and the numerous challenges affecting the mining industry globally.
Gold Fields' strategy of focusing on brownfields (on-lease) exploration to extend mine life continued during the year. The multi-year investment in exploration, focusing on Australia and Ghana, is continuing to yield good results. It is set up to deliver a balanced project pipeline that includes identifying early stage targets that will deliver into the medium to longer term life of mine. This investment is combined with progressing more advanced projects that can potentially provide new mining opportunities within the next two to three years. The emphasis at all mine sites is to strive for Mineral Reserve growth that at least replaces annual depletion, improves cash-flow and costs per ounce and maintains momentum on discovery. The sites are also encouraged to convert Resources to Reserves so as to maintain business plan production profiles and cash-flow projections.
Portfolio management aims to improve the overall quality of the assets to sustain free cash-flow (FCF) per ounce targets by acquiring or developing lower-cost, longer life assets and disposing of higher-cost, shorter life assets. It also seeks to drive on-lease exploration while assessing emerging in-country opportunities to leverage off our existing infrastructure and resources.
In support of the Company's Resource and Reserve development strategy, the execution of a number of key projects characterised 2017. The projects include embedding the South Deep rebase plan, maintaining traction on the Damang reinvestment plan, significant life extension at Cerro Corona and advancing the Gruyere project construction schedule. In addition, the strong Resource and Reserve growth at Granny Smith, the development of the new Waroonga North mining front at Agnew, the extension of the Invincible complex at St Ives and the advancement of Salares Norte towards a maiden Reserve, were noteworthy achievements. Darlot and the Arctic Platinum Project were divested in line with the portfolio management strategy and their Resources and Reserves are not part of the 2017 declaration.
Metal prices and exchange rates
This declaration is based on a Mineral Resource gold price of US$1,400/oz (A$1,850/oz; R600,000/kg) and a Mineral Reserve price of US$1,200/oz (A$1,600/oz; R525,000/kg). The gold price of US$1,200/oz used for the Mineral Reserve declaration is within the guidelines of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The copper price used for the Mineral Resource estimation is US$3.20/lb and for the Mineral Reserve estimation US$2.50/lb, increasing to US$2.80/lb from 2020 onward. The following exchange rates were used for planning purposes: R/US$13.6, R/A$10.2 and A$/US$0.75.
Corporate governance
For reporting Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, Gold Fields' over-arching principle is to ensure transparency, materiality and competency in reporting, compliance with public regulatory codes and internal standards, and to inform all stakeholders of relevant material issues regarding the status of the Group's fundamental asset base.
The Group's December 2017 Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimate is in accordance with the requirements of the South African Code for the Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (the SAMREC Code, 2016), the South African Code for the Reporting of Mineral Asset Valuation (2016 SAMVAL Code) and Industry Guide 7 for reporting on the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SAMREC Code covers public reporting and information that is prepared for investors or potential investors and their advisers, as well as other interested parties.
Reporting is also in accordance with section 12 of the JSE Listings Requirements and takes cognisance of other relevant international codes where geographically applicable. The definitions contained in the SAMREC Code are either identical to, or not materially different from, equivalent international codes.
The December 2017 declaration aims to report on information that is rated as important for disclosure on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves and it reflects a level of detail required for completeness, transparency and materiality in reporting. Gold Fields' Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves are reviewed on an ongoing basis by an internal Competent Person team administered by Corporate Technical Services and cyclically, at least every three years, by external and independent experts. The Competent Persons designated in terms of SAMREC, who assume responsibility for the reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, are the respective operation-based geology managers, technical managers and relevant project managers. The relevant Competent Persons are listed in the Supplement to this IAR.
Headline numbers
At 31 December 2017, Gold Fields' mines and projects had total attributable gold and copper Mineral Resources of 104Moz ((December 2016: 101Moz) and 4,881 Mlbs (December 2016: 5,813 Mlbs) respectively. Attributable gold and copper Mineral Reserves are 49Moz (December 2016: 48Moz) and 764 Mlbs (December 2016: 454 Mlbs) respectively, net of mined depletion. The charts below depict the group's comparative 2017 and 2016 managed gold Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve ounces split by region and growth projects.
|
Mineral Resource change per region  |
Mineral Reserve change per region  |
1 Salares Norte and Gruyere are included in the Americas and Australia regions respectively
2 With the divestment of the Arctic Platinum Project (APP), the Growth projects' Mineral Resource now reflects the Far Southeast project only
Loading and hauling ore at Tarkwa
Mineral Resources and Reserves Statement
Mineral Resource headline numbers1
| Managed Mineral Resources | Attributable ounces | ||||||||||||
| December 2017 | December 2016 | Dec 2017 | Dec 2016 | ||||||||||
| Gold only | Tonnes
(Mt) |
Grade
(g/t) |
Au
(Moz) |
Tonnes
(Mt) |
Grade
(g/t) |
Au
(Moz) |
Gold (Moz) | ||||||
| Total regions2 | 1,010.8 | 3.18 | 103.3 | 955.4 | 3.25 | 99.8 | 95.8 | 92.8 | |||||
| Total projects3 | 891.7 | 0.69 | 19.8 | 1,100.2 | 0.58 | 20.6 | 7.9 | 8.7 | |||||
| Total operating mines and projects | 1,902.5 | 2.01 | 123.1 | 2,055.6 | 1.82 | 120.4 | 103.7 | 101.5 | |||||
| Copper and silver as gold equiv. (Moz) | Individual metals detailed in table below | ||||||||||||
| Cerro Corona Cu as Au Equiv.5 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 1.9 | |||||||||
| FSE Cu as Au Equiv.6 | 22.7 | 22.7 | 9.1 | 9.1 | |||||||||
| Salares Norte Ag as Au Equiv.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | |||||||||
| Grand total as gold equivalents | 148.6 | 145.5 | 115.6 | 113.1 | |||||||||
Operational summary1
| Managed Mineral Resources | Attributable ounces | |||||||||||||
| December 2017 | December 2016 | Dec 2017 | Dec 2016 | |||||||||||
| Gold | Tonnes (Mt) | Grade
(g/t) |
Gold
(koz) |
Tonnes (Mt) | Grade
(g/t) |
Gold
(koz) |
Mineral Resource (koz) | |||||||
| Australia region | ||||||||||||||
| Agnew | 11.5 | 5.25 | 1,946 | 12.5 | 5.31 | 2,142 | 1,946 | 2,142 | ||||||
| Darlot | - | - | - | 1.2 | 5.97 | 224 | - | 224 | ||||||
| Granny Smith | 38.6 | 5.70 | 7,075 | 35.2 | 5.76 | 6,520 | 7,075 | 6,520 | ||||||
| St Ives | 34.4 | 3.47 | 3,847 | 30.1 | 3.40 | 3,297 | 3,847 | 3,297 | ||||||
| Gruyere | 75.4 | 1.29 | 3,134 | 76.8 | 1.34 | 3,307 | 3,134 | 3,307 | ||||||
| Total Australia region | 160.0 | 3.11 | 16,002 | 155.9 | 3.09 | 15,490 | 16,002 | 15,490 | ||||||
| South Africa region | ||||||||||||||
| South Deep | 381.6 | 5.41 | 66,318 | 340.0 | 5.76 | 62,971 | 60,350 | 57,483 | ||||||
| Total South Africa region | 381.6 | 5.41 | 66,318 | 340.0 | 5.76 | 62,971 | 60,350 | 57,483 | ||||||
| Americas region | ||||||||||||||
| Cerro Corona - Peru | 115.0 | 0.69 | 2,542 | 97.6 | 0.79 | 2,468 | 2,530 | 2,456 | ||||||
| Salares Norte - Chile | 23.3 | 4.89 | 3,663 | 25.6 | 4.60 | 3,794 | 3,663 | 3,794 | ||||||
| Total Americas region | 138.3 | 1.40 | 6,205 | 123.2 | 1.58 | 6,262 | 6,193 | 6,250 | ||||||
| Ghanaian region | ||||||||||||||
| Damang | 86.2 | 2.21 | 6,119 | 84.7 | 2.19 | 5,978 | 5,507 | 5,380 | ||||||
| Tarkwa - Open Pits | 172.5 | 1.37 | 7,583 | 183.2 | 1.38 | 8,116 | 6,825 | 7,304 | ||||||
| Tarkwa - Stockpiles | 72.2 | 0.46 | 1,074 | 68.4 | 0.44 | 978 | 967 | 880 | ||||||
| Tarkwa - Total | 244.7 | 1.10 | 8,657 | 251.6 | 1.12 | 9,094 | 7,792 | 8,184 | ||||||
| Total West Africa region | 331.0 | 1.39 | 14,776 | 336.4 | 1.39 | 15,071 | 13,299 | 13,564 | ||||||
| Gold only | - | - | ||||||||||||
| GFI operations - total gold | 1,010.8 | 3.18 | 103,301 | 955.4 | 3.25 | 99,795 | 95,843 | 92,788 | ||||||
| Managed Mineral Resources | Attributable ounces | |||||||||||||
| December 2017 | December 2016 | Dec 2017 | Dec 2016 | |||||||||||
| Americas region
Copper |
Tonnes (Mt) | Grade (% Cu) |
Copper (Mlbs) | Tonnes (Mt) | Grade (% Cu) |
Copper (Mlbs) | Attributable Copper (Mlbs) | |||||||
| Cerro Corona (Cu) only | 107.9 | 0.39 | 917 | 90.5 | 0.41 | 815 | 913 | 811 | ||||||
| Americas region
Silver |
Tonnes (Mt) | Grade
(g/t) |
Silver
(koz) |
Tonnes (Mt) | Grade
(g/t) |
Silver
(koz) |
Attributable Silver (koz) | |||||||
| Salares Norte (Ag) only | 23.3 | 66.03 | 49,458 | 25.6 | 53.11 | 43,761 | 49,458 | 43,761 | ||||||
Mineral Reserve headline numbers1
| Managed Mineral Reserves | Attributable ounces | |||||||||||||
| December 2017 | December 2016 | Dec 2017 | Dec 2016 | |||||||||||
| Gold only | Tonnes (Mt) | Grade (g/t) | Au
(Moz) |
Tonnes (Mt) | Grade (g/t) | Au
(Moz) |
Gold (Moz) | |||||||
| Total operating mines and projects2 | 613.1 | 2.70 | 53.1 | 572.2 | 2.83 | 52.1 | 49.0 | 48.1 | ||||||
| Copper and silver as gold equiv. | Individual metals detailed in table below | |||||||||||||
| Cerro Corona Cu as Au equiv.8 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 1.1 | ||||||||||
| Grand total as gold equivalents | 54.9 | 53.2 | 50.8 | 49.2 | ||||||||||
Operational summary1
| Managed Mineral Resources | Attributable ounces | |||||||||||||
| December 2017 | December 2016 | Dec 2017 | Dec 2016 | |||||||||||
| Gold | Tonnes (Mt) | Grade (g/t) |
Gold (koz) |
Tonnes (Mt) | Grade (g/t) |
Gold (koz) |
Mineral Resource (koz) | |||||||
| Australia region | ||||||||||||||
| Agnew | 3.0 | 5.54 | 541 | 3.0 | 5.39 | 515 | 541 | 515 | ||||||
| Darlot | - | - | - | 0.5 | 3.84 | 56 | - | 56 | ||||||
| Granny Smith | 12.4 | 5.51 | 2,203 | 9.9 | 5.30 | 1,693 | 2,203 | 1,693 | ||||||
| St Ives | 19.4 | 2.51 | 1,568 | 21.5 | 2.52 | 1,740 | 1,568 | 1,740 | ||||||
| Gruyere | 48.7 | 1.20 | 1,871 | 45.8 | 1.20 | 1,760 | 1,871 | 1,760 | ||||||
| Total Australia region | 83.6 | 2.30 | 6,183 | 80.7 | 2.22 | 5,764 | 6,183 | 5,764 | ||||||
| South Africa region | ||||||||||||||
| South Deep4 | 216.8 | 5.36 | 37,388 | 217.6 | 5.34 | 37,324 | 34,023 | 34,072 | ||||||
| Total South Africa region | 216.8 | 5.36 | 37,388 | 217.6 | 5.34 | 37,324 | 34,023 | 34,072 | ||||||
| Americas region | ||||||||||||||
| Cerro Corona | 86.2 | 0.70 | 1,937 | 46.1 | 0.88 | 1,302 | 1,928 | 1,296 | ||||||
| Total Americas region | 86.2 | 0.70 | 1,937 | 46.1 | 0.88 | 1,302 | 1,928 | 1,296 | ||||||
| Ghanaian region | ||||||||||||||
| Damang | 31.9 | 1.68 | 1,728 | 31.8 | 1.64 | 1,674 | 1,555 | 1,506 | ||||||
| Tarkwa - Open Pits | 122.5 | 1.23 | 4,831 | 127.7 | 1.24 | 5,104 | 4,348 | 4,593 | ||||||
| Tarkwa - Stockpiles | 72.2 | 0.46 | 1,074 | 68.4 | 0.44 | 978 | 967 | 880 | ||||||
| Tarkwa - Total | 194.7 | 0.94 | 5,906 | 196.1 | 0.96 | 6,082 | 5,315 | 5,474 | ||||||
| Total West Africa region | 226.6 | 1.05 | 7,634 | 227.9 | 1.06 | 7,755 | 6,871 | 6,980 | ||||||
| GFI operations - total gold | 613.1 | 2.70 | 53,143 | 572.2 | 2.83 | 52,146 | 49,005 | 48,112 | ||||||
| Managed Mineral Resources | Attributable ounces | |||||||||||||
| December 2017 | December 2016 | Dec 2017 | Dec 2016 | |||||||||||
| (Peru) – Cerro Corona Copper |
Tonnes (Mt) | Grade (% Cu) |
Copper (Mlbs) | Tonnes (Mt) | Grade (% Cu) |
Copper (Mlbs) | Attributable Copper (Mlbs) | |||||||
| Copper (Cu) only | 86.2 | 0.4 | 767 | 46.1 | 0.45 | 456 | 764 | 454 | ||||||
| 1 | Managed unless otherwise stated, Gruyere only reports the 50% share attributable to Gold Fields (GFI). Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of those Mineral Resources modified to produce Mineral Reserves |
| 2 | Gruyere and Salares Norte included in the Australia and Americas regions respectively |
| 3 | Projects – FSE plus APP (APP for 2017 only) |
| 4 | Reserve grade is inclusive of in section development tonnes, which cannot be separated from the ore flow, however capital waste is excluded as there is a potential to separate it in future |
| 5 | Metal prices used for equiv oz: US$1,400/oz Au and US$3.2/lb Cu. The metallurgical recovery rate (Au = 69% and Cu = 87%), has not been applied to the conversion. Calculation: CuMlbs*Cu Price (917*3.2)/ Au price (1,400) = 2.095 Au equivalent Moz |
| 6 | Metal prices used for equiv oz: US$1,400/oz Au and US$3.2/lb Cu. The metallurgical recovery rate (Au = 81.6% and Cu = 92.6%), has not been applied to the conversion |
| 7 | Metal prices used for equiv oz: US$1,400/oz Au and US$20/oz Ag. The metallurgical recovery rate (Au = 92% and Ag = 70%), has not been applied to the conversion |
| 8 | Metal prices used for equiv oz: US$1,200/oz Au and US$2.8/lb Cu. The metallurgical recovery rate (Au = 69% and Cu = 87%), has not been applied to the conversion. Calculation: CuMlbs*Cu Price (767*2.8)/ Au price (1,200) = 1.790 Au equivalent Moz |