Integrated
Annual Report
2018
2018
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2018 marked the second year of the reinvestment programme embarked on by Gold Fields at the end of 2016. The key motivation behind the investment focus is to ensure that our portfolio of mines continues to generate cash sustainably into the foreseeable future, while at the same time lowering our costs and extending mine life.
Nick Holland
CEO
2018 marked the second year of the reinvestment programme embarked on by Gold Fields at the end of 2016. The key motivation behind the investment focus is to ensure that our portfolio of mines continues to generate cash sustainably into the foreseeable future, while at the same time lowering our costs and extending mine life.
Having spent total project capital of US$502m over the past two years, primarily on Damang and Gruyere, Gold Fields is now well placed to maintain a production profile of near to 2Moz a year at our international operations in Australia, Ghana and the Americas over the medium to long term. This is based on current gold price levels, our attributable gold Mineral Reserves of 20Moz in these regions as well as our track record of Resource conversion and exploration activities.
The 2Moz milestone is expected to be reached for the first time in 2019 as Damang and Gruyere are set to come into production and our Asanko joint venture (JV) in Ghana contributes for the full year. The longer-term future of this portfolio also looks positive as we continue to invest in near-mine exploration at our Australian mines, while the Board has approved a maiden Mineral Reserve and the technical components of the feasibility study for the Salares Norte project in Chile.
The globalisation of our portfolio has also been evident in a gradual shift in our Mineral Reserve exposure. Until two years ago, just over 70% of our Reserves were held by South Deep. That profile has changed: of our total gold-equivalent Mineral Reserves of 50.9Moz in December 2018 (December 2017: 53.1Moz), 41% are now outside South Africa.
One of the key benefits of the reinvestment programme over the past two years is the expected reduction in Group All-in Costs (AIC) to approximately US$900/oz, a level which we feel is required to be competitive on a global scale. As the quality of the portfolio improves and our cost profile starts to decline, we expect an improved free cash-flow (FCF) margin. For 2019, therefore, we have adjusted our target to a FCF margin of 15% at a gold price of US$1,200/oz (previously US$$1,300/oz).
Not only did our international portfolio of mines exceed its production targets in 2018, but it also outperformed cost guidance. However, as South Deep, our only remaining South African operation, was well below target, Group attributable production of 2.04Moz for the year was below our original guidance of 2.08 – 2.10Moz, as well as 2017 production of 2.16Moz. Group AIC of US$1, 173/oz were below the guided US$1,190/oz – US$1,210/oz, but slightly higher than the US$1, 088/ oz reported in 2017, due to the continued investment in our growth projects.
The strong operational performances of our operations in Ghana, Peru and Australia resulted in net cash flows of US$332m, and enabled us to fund our US$290m total project capital expenditure in 2018 (excluding Asanko), without putting undue pressure on our balance sheet. Despite the increased spending, as anticipated, we declared a total dividend for 2018 of R0.40/share. Planned project and sustaining capital for 2019 is scheduled to decline to US$633m, of which US$143m is growth capital.
At South Deep, annual production in 2018 at 157,100oz was half the originally guided 321,000oz. Production in the second half of the year was impacted by the tragic fatal accident as well as a wide ranging restructuring, including the retrenchment of over 1,500 employees and contractors, and a subsequent six-week strike by the majority National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). However, I believe that in the wake of the restructuring, which has seen our employee workforce at the mine fall by about 30% to just under 2,500 and the number of contractors decrease from 2,294 to 1,725, we are in a position to significantly reduce South Deep's pre-restructuring (H1 2018) cash-burn of about R100m (US$8m) a month.
During 2018, we recorded one fatality (three in 2017), which served as a tragic reminder that we have lots more work to do to eliminate all fatalities and serious injuries to realise our goal of zero harm. We did however see a continued improvement in our health and safety performance amid renewed efforts to entrench a committed safety culture and standards. Gold Fields' total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR) fell below two recordable injuries per million hours worked for the first time, a continuation of our long-term downward trend and our best safety performance ever.
Mining is an industry that has significant impacts on the countries and communities in which it operates. This requires continued proactive stakeholder engagement strategies and sustainable development policies.
Host communities, in particular, are critical stakeholders for our mines. During 2018, we continued investing significant resources in community programmes, including increasing the share of jobs and procurement spend allocated to host communities. We are showing good results with around 25% of our total value creation of US$2.7bn during 2018 channelled into host communities.
The judicious use of water and energy resources by our mines and proactive mine closure programmes are other critical elements of our sustainable development programmes, not only as part of our commitment to operational efficiencies and environmental stewardship, but also as part of strengthening our social licence to operate.
We are also committed, in collaboration with our peers in the ICMM, to a renewed focus on the governance and technical management of our tailings storage facilities (TSFs) following the collapse of a TSF at Vale's Feijão iron ore mine in Brumadinho, Brazil, in January 2019, during which there were over 300 deaths.
The Gold Fields share price took a hit when we announced the restructuring of South Deep in August 2018. While it has gradually recovered since then, overall in 2018 our share price decreased by 18% on the New York Stock Exchange and 9% on the JSE.
| 2018 | 20174 | ||||||
| Fatalities | Number | 1 | 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TRIFR | /million hours worked | 1.83 | 2.42 | ||||
| Attributable production | Moz | 2.04 | 2.16 | ||||
| All-in Sustaining Costs (AISC)3 | US$/oz | 981 | 955 | ||||
| AIC3 | US$/oz | 1,173 | 1,088 | ||||
| Net cash-flow1.3 | US$m | (132) | (2) | ||||
| Free cash-flow (FCF) margin3 | % | 16 | 16 | ||||
| Net debt3 | US$bn | 1,612 | 1,303 | ||||
| Dividend declared | R/share | 0.40 | 0.90 | ||||
| Total value distribution | US$bn | 2.711 | 2.849 | ||||
| Energy usage2 | TJ | 11,628 | 12,178 | ||||
| Water withdrawal5 | Ml | 21,179 | 32,985 | ||||
| CO2 emissions | million tonnes | 1.85 | 1.96 | ||||
| Host community procurement (% of total)6 | % | 27 | 45 | ||||
| Host community employment (% of total)7 | % | 56 | 40 | ||||
| Gross mine closure liabilities | US$m | 400 | 381 |
| 1 | Net cash-flow = cash-flow from operating activities less net capital expenditure, environmental payments and finance lease payments |
| 2 | The sum of direct and indirect energy consumption reflects a conversion factor used by Granny Smith, Tarkwa and Damang power stations to account for generation losses |
| 3 | These non-IFRS measures have been defined in management's discussion and analysis in the Annual Financial Report and have been reconciled to IFRS |
| 4 | 2017 numbers include continued and discontinued operations |
| 5 | Large difference in numbers due to change of definition of water withdrawal to exclude diverted water |
| 6 | The % decline is due to a change in the definition of host communities by our Australian operations to only include communities in their area of influence (previously Perth was included in the definition due to the FIFO nature of our mines) |
| 7 | South Deep's host community definition was changed in 2018 to align with the 2016 municipal boundary change which amalgamated the Westonaria and Randfontein municipalities. It now includes all individuals who reside in the Rand West City Local Municipality. This number also excludes the Perth office and Gruyere project |
Each year, Gold Fields adopts a Group performance scorecard that incorporates the Company’s strategic priorities and seeks to instil the right culture and behaviours among our workforce, driven by the imperatives of safety, cash generation and sustainably growing the business.
By integrating all of the key value drivers into the business, the scorecard also aims to enhance the Group’s sustainability and reflects the integrated nature of our business. The scorecard consists of four key performance areas and elements against which we measure our performance, which are discussed in detail in the IAR:
| 1. | Safe operational delivery – how we make money |
| 2. | Portfolio management – what we choose to invest in |
| 3. | Capital discipline – how we spend money |
| 4. | Licence and reputation – how we conduct ourselves |
My performance as CEO against my scorecard objectives is shown in the Performance against strategic target. This Integrated Annual Report (IAR) is structured along the lines of our 2018 scorecard and an overview of each performance area follows.
Safety is management’s first priority and it is critical that we continuously emphasise our commitment to zero harm. Therefore, the fact that we still had one fatality at our mines during 2018, compared with three in 2017, is a setback. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family, friends and colleagues of Ananias Mosololi, a load haul dump operator at South Deep, who died after an underground accident on 12 October 2018. In a non-mining-related accident, a member of the Community Security Task Force, Francis Yeboah, drowned in a settling pond at our Tarkwa mine in Ghana. We are deeply saddened by his loss and extend our condolences to his family.
Our overall safety performance improved during 2018, with the TRIFR declining to 1.83 incidents per million hours worked from 2.42 in 2017, as the total number of recordable injuries reduced to 99 from 138 in 2017. This is a continuation of a longer-term trend. As recently as 2014, our TRIFR was 4.04 and we reported 200 recordable injuries.
Working towards eliminating all fatalities and serious injuries remains a priority for our management teams at the operations, which have ultimate responsibility for health and safety issues. The Group Safety Leadership Forum, formed in 2017, is overseeing the development of a Group-wide safety strategy that will further improve our safety performance. It has identified three pillars to underpin our safety efforts – systems and processes, safety leadership, and safe behaviour – to complement the many good safety initiatives already in place. To further entrench safe behaviour, we have also implemented greater recognition for safety in performance scorecards of all employees by adding a number of leading indicators to the current lagging indicators.
On the health front, the Occupational Lung Disease Working Group, representing most gold mining companies in South Africa, including Gold Fields, reached an historic settlement with attorneys representing ex-mine workers suffering from silicosis and TB. The settlement still needs to be approved by South Africa’s courts. Once it is approved a trust will be set up, funded by R5bn (US$390m) from the gold mining companies, and the process of compensating ex-mine workers can finally begin. Gold Fields has provided R368m (US$25m) for its share of the settlement.
2018 was the second year of our reinvestment programme that seeks to improve the quality of our portfolio and sustain the current production base for the next decade. The significant capital expenditure requirements that accompany this programme inevitably resulted in higher Group AIC and reduced net cash-flow during both 2017 and 2018. As such, we guided the market at the beginning of 2018 on higher costs and marginally lower production.
Group attributable production of 2.04Moz for the year was 2% below our originally guided 2.08 – 2.10Moz. All the international mines exceeded their production guidance. South Deep’s production at 157, 100oz was well below guidance.
Despite the significant capital expenditure programme during 2018, stringent cost management across the Group resulted in a good cost performance with AIC of US$1,173/oz and AISC of US$981/oz in 2018, below guidance for the year of US$1 190/oz – US$ 210/oz and US$990/oz – US$1,010/oz respectively.
Total capital expenditure during 2018 was US$814m, just lower than the US$834m spent in 2017. The Group reported net cash-outflow of
US$132m (2017 : US$2m cash-outflow) and a FCF margin (which excludes capital spend on growth projects) of 16% (2017: 16%). The gold price received by Gold Fields during 2018 averaged US$1, 252/oz (2017: US$1, 255/oz).
Futher details on The Group and mine operating and financial performances.
2018 proved to be an extremely difficult year for South Deep. After falling behind plan in H1 2018, management announced a material restructuring on 14 August 2018. The aim of the restructuring was to consolidate mining activity to increase focus, and to match the cost structure with the level of production.
As part of the restructuring, South Deep closed mining activities in loss-making areas of the mine and reduced operational and support staff commensurately. Development activities in the new mine areas were also suspended. Both registered trade unions were served with section 189 notices in terms of South Africa’s Labour Relations Act and, after the legislated consultation period ended, the retrenchment of 1,092 employees and 420 contractors were implemented. This leaves the staff complement approximately 30% lower than it was before the retrenchments.
The NUM commenced strike action on 2 November 2018 to protest the retrenchments, which continued until 18 December 2018. Amid violence and intimidation, non-striking employees were prevented from accessing the mine and, subsequently, no production was possible for November and December 2018.
| Attributable gold production |
 |
| All-in costs (AIC) |
 |
Production at South Deep during 2018 decreased by 44% to 4,885kg (157,100oz) from 8,748kg (281,300oz) in 2017 driven by decreased volumes and grade. AIC for 2018 increased 42% to R854,049/kg (US$2,012/oz) from R600,109/kg (US$1,400/oz) in 2017, mainly due to lower gold sold. Net cash-outflow for the year was R1,891m (US$141m). South Deep also reported an asset and goodwill impairment of R6.47bn (US$482m) in 2018 following a goodwill impairment of R3.5bn (US$278m) in 2017.
Subsequent to the 2018 year-end, South Deep commenced the process of building up production with a reduced, but more focused, workforce and having removed over R800m from the mine’s cost base. The immediate target is to get the mine to break even at the current level of production. Once this has been achieved, the focus will be on improving productivity off the restructured cost base and overhead structure, to bring the mine to profitability. Gold Fields is unable to continue sustaining the cash losses of the last few years and, should our efforts subsequent to the restructuring at South Deep not show positive results, other options for the asset cannot be ruled out.
Guidance of 6,000kg (193,000oz) has been provided for 2019 at an AIC of R610,000/kg (US$1,394/oz). The mine’s Mineral Reserves were reduced by 12% to 32.8Moz in December 2018 compared with a year earlier, while Mineral Resources have declined by 15% to 56.2Moz over the same period.
During 2018, Gold Fields shifted further away from the use of carbon-intensive energy sources. Our mines in Ghana, Australia and Peru are now largely powered by low-carbon gas, though diesel is still being used for the majority of our mining fleet. During 2018, 54% of our total electricity capacity was generated by gas, with coal accounting for 35%, hydro-electric for 9% and diesel for 2%.
Currently Gold Fields has 134MW in installed gas capacity and an additional 16MW of gas capacity is being evaluated by the Australian and Ghanaian mines. Renewable energy is also becoming a viable option, not only due to its positive impact on carbon emissions but also because the cost of renewables is rapidly coming down. At present, Gold Fields has 55MW of solar capacity and 18MW of wind capacity under study at our South African, Australian and Ghanaian mines.
The Granny Smith mine in Australia looks set to be the first mine in our portfolio to be partly solar powered, having contracted an independent power producer to design, build and operate a 8MW solar plant backed by 2MW of battery systems, to be commissioned in Q4 2019. The Agnew mine is also expected to develop a hybrid gas and renewable power plant during 2019.
By 2020 we are confident that around 2% of installed Group energy capacity will be from solar and wind. Gold Fields also remains committed to its goal of 20% renewable energy generation over the life-of-mine at all new projects.
Energy accounted for 22% of Group operating costs in 2018, the second largest cost component at our mines. While energy consumption decreased by 4% in 2018, the Group increased energy spending by 17% to US$302m in 2018, amid higher diesel unit costs and regulated tariff increases. Operational energy efficiencies yielded savings of US$29m.
Greater use of renewables has the added benefit of reducing the carbon footprint, which is one of Gold Fields' key environmental priorities. During 2018, total CO2 emissions declined to 1.85m tonnes (2017: 1.96m tonnes), and we expect longer-term benefits arising from the energy efficiency and fuel-switching projects we have put in place at our mines.
A key area of focus in 2018 was to ensure that our mines have appropriately sized and qualified workforces to drive safe operational delivery. As part of the restructuring of South Deep, which commenced in August 2018, 1,092 employees and 420 contractors were retrenched as part of our efforts to align the cost base with the reduced operational footprint of South Deep. Earlier in the year a further 260 employees and about 25% of the mine's management team had accepted voluntary severance packages.
The Tarkwa mine switched to contractor mining during 2018, with about 90% of the affected workforce of the mine moving over to the two contractors. At our Damang mine, too, we converted just over 300 full-time employees into fixed-term contractors. As a result, the number of full-time employees in the West Africa region reduced from 2,910 at end 2017 to 1,079 at end 2018, while the number of contractors rose from 4,761 to 6,291 over the same period. Damang has been using contractor mining since the start of the reinvestment project early in 2017.
As a result of these initiatives, the Group now employs 5,601 full-time employees (2017: 8,856) and 12,010 contractors (2017: 9,738).
Another important human resource initiatives implemented in 2018 is the continued drive to have appropriately skilled people in the right roles. With the increasing shift towards mechanisation and automation at our mines, we have found that, in addition to the continued development and training of our workforce, it is important to recruit appropriately skilled and experienced people. During 2018, we spent over US$14m globally on training and development – on top of recruiting the best mining skills to supplement our existing talent pool.
The core focus of Gold Fields' financial strategy is to grow our FCF margin and to sustain this margin in the long-term. The Group has set a FCF margin target per region (after capital expenditure, royalties and taxes) of at least 15% at a notional long-term planning gold price of US$1,200/oz, thus providing a cushion in case of lower prices.
Despite the significant capital investment programme of US$814m, Gold Fields produced a sound cost and cash-flow performance during 2018. AIC of US$1,173/oz and AISC of US$981/oz for 2018 were slightly ahead of 2017 numbers but below guidance for the year of US$1,190 – US$1,210/oz and US$990 – US$1,010/oz, respectively.
Cash-flow generated by the operations remained strong. Excluding project capital and off-mine exploration expenditure, operational cash-flow was US$334m (US$194m in Australia, US$114m in Peru, US$149m in Ghana and a negative US$141m in South Africa) versus US$441m in 2017. On a net basis, which includes growth capital, the Group reported net cash-outflow of US$132m (2017: US$2m cash-outflow) and an FCF margin (which excludes capital spend on growth projects) of 16% (2017: 16%) at an average gold price received of US$1,252/oz (2017: US$1,255/oz).
Revenue was down by 7% to US$2.58bn (2017: US$2.76bn) due to the production decline at South Deep. Cost of sales were down proportionally at US$2.04bn (2017: US$2.11bn). The overall financial performance was impacted largely by non-recurring items, including impairment of South Deep and retrenchment costs in Ghana related to the conversion to contract mining at Tarkwa.
Given the volatility in commodity prices and exchange rates and, more pertinently, the high levels of project capital expenditure incurred during 2018, management undertook short-term, tactical hedging of the oil price, the copper price and the US Dollar, Australian Dollar and South African Rand gold prices to protect cash-flow. We are continuing with our gold hedging programme in Australia during 2019 as we finalise the construction of Gruyere. We have also extended hedging to the Rand gold price to protect South Deep's cash-flow during the build-up to more sustainable production levels. Altogether, around 1Moz of gold production for 2019 has been hedged.
Two of Gold Fields' key strategic objectives are to pay its shareholders a dividend and reduce the amount of debt on our balance sheet. Despite recording a net cash-outflow, the Group declared a total dividend for the year of R0.40/share (2017: R0.90/share).
Having moved into a capital-intensive phase during 2017 and 2018, management guided the market for a pick-up in debt. Net debt increased by US$309m during 2018 to US$1,612m, mainly due to project capital spend and the funding of the Asanko Gold deal.
Gold Fields ended 2018 on a net debt:adjusted Ebitda ratio of 1.45x compared with 1.03x at the end of 2017, but still well below the debt covenant level of 2.50x.
During 2018, we continued to successfully manage our balance sheet by extending the maturity of the US$380m term loan by 12 months to June 2020. We are considering additional refinancing of our debt in 2019 to further improve liquidity.
Gold Fields manages its assets to improve the overall quality of its portfolio and enhance the sustainability of the cash-flow generated by this portfolio. In this regard, the focus is on reducing Group AIC, increasing the FCF/oz and extending the life of the assets.
All assets in our portfolio are subject to the Group's annual strategic planning process. A scenario analysis is conducted for each operation, assessing how to maximise cash-flow, life-of-mine and margin. The results of this analysis are then used in conjunction with the Group's capital profile and the current economic environment as inputs into our annual business planning.
The strength of our international portfolio is evident in the continued net cash-flow generation of our mines in Australia, Ghana and Peru, which collectively generated US$457m in 2018 (2017: US$501m), before taking into account project capital.
During 2018, we announced an extension of Cerro Corona's life-of-mine to 2030 through work on the tailings facility and the future use of in-pit tailings.
Our Australian mines continue to benefit from our consistent and sizeable near-mine (brownfields) exploration programmes. During 2018, we spent A$83m (US$62m) at Agnew, Granny Smith and St Ives and, as a result, added 1.18Moz in Mineral Reserves (before depletion) and 1.95Moz in Mineral Resources at our Australian mines. Notable projects arising from this investment drive are:
A further A$76m (US$57m) has been budgeted for brownfield exploration at our Australian mines in 2019.
Near-mine exploration is also being stepped up at our Ghanaian mines, notably at Tarkwa, where the focus is on paleoplacer extension opportunities at the mine's existing pits. US$9m was spent in 2018 with some early promising results evident.
The only operating asset in the Group that still needs to be brought to full account is the South Deep mine. Management believes that following the significant restructuring in the second half of 2018 the cost base has been adjusted to the reduced operating footprint. We expect to significantly reduce the monthly cash losses at the mine and are confident that South Deep is set up for a sustainable recovery over the next few years.
Gold Fields holds investment positions in Gold Road Resources and Asanko Gold, which are the joint venture partners in the Gruyere project and the Asanko gold mine (AGM) respectively. We also have minority holdings in a number of junior mining companies, including Cardinal Resources, Red 5 and Hummingbird, and evaluate these interests on a regular basis. The company also diluted its shareholding in Toronto-listed Maverix Metals to 20%.
2018 was the second year in our drive to secure the longevity and sustainability of our portfolio of assets, and all our key projects in this respect are tracking their delivery deadlines and financial budgets:
During 2018, Gold Fields' managed gold-equivalent Mineral Reserves (net of depletion) decreased by 1% to 54.1Moz and Mineral Resources by 8.1Moz to 140.5Moz at 31 December 2018. The declines were largely due to reductions in Mineral Resource and Reserves at South Deep, due to a higher cut-off grade.
Other notable developments during 2018 were:
As recently as 2017 South Deep held just over 70% of our Group Mineral Reserves. The profile has changed: of our total managed gold-equivalent Mineral Reserves as at 31 December 2018, 59% are held by South Deep, and our Mineral Resource profile indicates that this percentage could continue to fall.
A straight comparison between South Africa's and our international operations' Mineral Reserves is in any case misleading, given the different style of mineralisation. The paleoplacer type orebody at South Deep is large and consistent, while most of the rest of the Group's reserves are dominated by orogenic/greenstone type orebodies, which are more variable and usually do not have particularly long Reserve lives. But these orebodies are characterised by consistent replacement of Reserve depletion. Importantly, our commitment to brownfields exploration has allowed us to continually replace Reserves, particularly at our Australian mines, over a number of years. A detailed breakdown of the Company's Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources is contained in this report.
The success of our business is dependent on our relationships with key external stakeholders which determine both our regulatory and social licences to operate.
Responsible environmental management remains a vital component of Gold Fields’ approach to operate at all our operations and projects. In 2018, we reported two Level 3 environmental incidents (2017: two), one in Peru and one in Ghana. Gold Fields has had no Level 4 or 5 environmental incident for well over ten years, but the two Level 3 incidents had the potential to impact water supply to the nearby communities. Our teams acted quickly to remediate the events and communicated transparently with regulators and communities on this issue. The number of Level 2 incidents fell by 18% to 68 in 2018 from 83 in 2017.
Water is a particular focus of our environmental strategy, as it is becoming an increasingly scarce and expensive resource globally. Managing the risks around current and anticipated water security, which includes the quantity and quality of supply as well as associated costs, is essential to ensure sustainable production for existing operations and the future viability of projects.
During 2018, our operations invested in improving water practices, including pollution prevention, recycling and conservation initiatives. A key target is to reuse or recycle much of the water we use in our processes and we set ourselves a target of 65%, in line with ICMM guidance. We achieved the target in 2018, when 66% of our total water use was recycled or reused water.
Work carried out by the ICMM on water and tailings management has provided best-practice guidelines for the Company, and during 2017 and 2018 we worked closely to align our practices to these ICMM position statements. During 2018, external reviews of our compliance with these position statements concluded that we are aligned with the ICMM position statements both in terms of water and tailings management.
After the catastrophic tailings failure at the Feijão iron ore mine in Brumadinho, Brazil, in January 2019, during which there were over 300 deaths, all Gold Fields' operations carried out additional safety inspections at our 33 tailings facilities, particularly on the 18 decommissioned TSFs, and concluded that Gold Fields-managed TSFs were not at risk. During 2019 we will further strengthen technical and governance oversight over all of our TSFs. Longer term, our teams are working with our peers at the ICMM to evaluate independent assessment and accreditation of all ICMM member TSFs as will as on solutions such as filtered and dry-stack tailings.
The total gross mine closure liability for Gold Fields was raised by 5% to US$400m in 2018 from US$381m in 2017. During 2018, we further enhanced our integrated approach to mine closure management with a focus on progressive environmental rehabilitation and full life-of-mine closure obligations.
Employees, business partners, shareholders, investors, governments and communities have been identified as Gold Fields' key stakeholders. Their support is critical in ensuring that we receive and retain our regulatory approvals and social licence to operate. This can only be achieved if we develop stakeholder relationships that are based on transparent and open engagement and if we create shared value with them. The ability to generate cash is critical in distributing the benefits from mining to our stakeholders. In 2018, Gold Fields' value distribution totalled US$2.7bn, compared with the US$2.9bn we distributed in 2017. For details on how this amount was dispensed to stakeholders during 2018 see Value creation and distribution.
As the issuers of mining licences, developers of policy and implementers of regulations, host governments at all levels (national, regional and local) are one of Gold Fields' most critical stakeholders. While we seek to engage with these stakeholders regularly to build trusts, these relationships are not always easy. Over the past few years we have seen a resurgence of resource nationalism, particularly in Africa. As part of this many governments accuse the mining industry of not paying fair taxes by using profit-shifting and under-invoicing their physical gold exports. Gold Fields has appropriate controls and procedures in place to ensure that we comply with relevant tax legislation, including compliance with transfer pricing regulations, and account fully for our gold exports.
In South Africa the industry and government have been at an impasse for a number of years over the implementation of a new Mining Charter to govern the sector. A new Charter was published by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) in mid-2018. The 2018 Mining Charter is an improvement on previous draft versions, but there are still critical matters, including renewals of licences, that are not dealt with. As it stands now the licence renewal clause is unacceptable to the industry, as it would invalidate all previous empowerment deals if the empowerment partner has since sold its interests. Should this impasse continue, the Minerals Council of South Africa (MCSA), reserves its rights to proceed with a legal review of the Charter relating to, among others, the renewal of licences.
The Minerals Council of South Africa won a court case recognising the "once empowered, always empowered" principle, which would guarantee the legislated black economic empowerment ownership levels for South Deep until its licence renewal in 2040 and a further term of 30 years after that. However, the ruling has been appealed by the DMR and the MCSA will follow due process in this regard.
A more proactive approach is required, such as the one adopted by the Ghanaian government, which has entered into development agreements with large mining companies, including Gold Fields, and incentivises new mining projects. Our agreement with the Ghana government was fundamental in our US$341m reinvestment programme in Damang, which created or secured around 1,850 jobs. The favourable investment environment also encouraged us to take a 45% holding in AGM.
The mining regimes in Peru and Australia remained relatively stable, though we opposed a proposed rise in the gold royalty rate in Western Australia.
Gold Fields fundamentally respects and protects the rights of its employees to organise themselves through trade unions. Over the years we have developed good working relations with organised labour at our operations and constructive engagement usually precedes any restructuring and corporate actions needed to keep our operations sustainable. However, during 2018, our relationship with unions at our Ghanaian mines and at South Deep turned adversarial.
At Tarkwa, the Ghanaian Mineworkers Union brought a court injunction against the decision to convert from owner to contractor mining, which is essential to ensure life extension at the mine. This was overturned by the courts and the mine implemented the transition to contractor mining successfully, with a large part of affected employees joining the two mining contractors. As a result the employee workforce at our Ghanaian mines is now non-unionised.
At South Deep, the NUM embarked on a 45-day strike in November and December 2018 following the mine's decision to retrench around 1,500 employees and contractors as part of its wide-ranging restructuring. The strike was marred by violence and intimidation carried out by a small group of NUM branch members against the majority of employees who wanted to return to work, but were prevented from doing so. The strike was resolved after many NUM employees sought the assistance of the national and regional offices of the NUM to end the industrial action.
The strike highlighted the need to rebase our labour relations at South Deep, and a new collective agreement was signed between the NUM and the mine in March 2019 to take cognisance of South Deep's new operating model.
One of the biggest challenges facing mining companies is building relationships and trust with their host communities, without which there is potential for operational disruption, project delays and cancellations - the loss of our social licence to operate.
Gold Fields has traditionally invested in communities through a range of educational, skills development, health and infrastructure projects and, more recently, through Shared Value-based projects. This approach to structuring our investments in communities ensures that the value created is shared by communities and the business. Socio-Economic Development (SED) is still an important part of our community investment strategy, but host community procurement and employment have proven to be more impactful as they create economic value directly in the communities most impacted by our mines and projects.
During 2018, host community members accounted for 56% of our total workforce (employees and contractors) throughout the Group – 9,259 employees – with the numbers varying from around 5% at our Fly-in, Fly-out mines in Australia to over 70% at our two Ghanaian operations.
Host community procurement can be even more impactful as our spending with suppliers and contractors is generally our biggest cost component. In 2018 we spent about US$1.81bn with these businesses, of which 94% was spent in-country and 27%, or US$441m, with businesses from our host communities. The economic benefits in terms of skills development, job creation and reducing dependency from the mine are self-evident.
Altogether, we have calculated that during 2018 almost a quarter of our total value creation of US$2.71bn – US$686m – remained with our host communities. It is a number we are seeking to grow and our regions have developed ambitious targets in this respect.
Supporting our integrated management approach is a robust corporate governance programme throughout the Company. During 2018, building on the implementation of the recommendations of the King IV Report on Corporate Governance during 2017, the Board approved a diversity policy and revised human rights, stakeholder engagement, environmental as well as occupational health and safety policy statements. These policies are expected to improve sound governance, transparency and regulatory compliance at Gold Fields.
Adherence to legislation, controls and standards is a non-negotiable aspect of doing business, while ethical leadership and sound business governance serve to strengthen our reputation and relationships with shareholders, governments, communities and employees.
The past few months has seen a pick-up in mergers and acquisitions in the global gold mining sector. Most notably, there have been announced tie-ups between Newmont Gold and Goldcorp and between Barrick Gold and Randgold Resources, as well as Newmont and Barrick merging their Nevada assets. These deals, if and when finalised, will reshape the industry. Amid speculation about further sector consolidation, Gold Fields has been linked with a number of similar-sized industry peers.
We believe, though, that we are in the final stages of successfully implementing our own growth strategy, one we embarked upon two years ago. By kick-starting the investments in our growth projects then, we are confident that we are ahead of the curve in terms of project development.
Historically, mergers between gold mining companies have faced significant challenges to achieving success. We believe that too often a proposed merger was based on an increased production profile without necessarily achieving greater cost synergies, while cultural differences between companies are another impediment to delivering value to shareholders and other stakeholders.
It is early days for the recently announced mega-mergers but extracting value-creating synergies could prove challenging. Instead, they suggest that the companies are seeking to build growth and boost their Reserve lives. At Gold Fields, we don't believe we need a merger to achieve profitable growth. We are executing what we believe to be strong, sustainable and deliverable growth strategy, which will create shareholder value in the short, medium and long-term.
Gold Fields seeks to be a low-cost gold producer that secures sustainable cash-flow through the inevitable price cycles in the gold mining industry. Through this, we are confident we can deliver superior returns when the gold price is high, and offer a degree of protection when the price falls. At the same time, sound cash-flow has enabled us to manage our debt, invest in the right assets and distribute the benefits of mining to our stakeholders.
To continue expanding margins and distributing cash, the long-term sustainability of the business must be kept intact. This requires investing to extend the life of our assets, ensuring we maintain our social licence to operate and retaining our people who are key to the Company's success.
2018 was the second year of our reinvestment programme in which we have invested a total of almost US$550m. The key projects under this programme are set to come to fruition in 2019 and have the potential to produce strong cash-flows for Gold Fields in the future.
At present gold prices, I am confident that our Ghanaian, Australian and South American regions are well placed to maintain a production profile of nearly 2Moz per year over the medium to longer-term, based upon our Mineral Reserve profile in these regions, our track record of resource conversion, finalisation of our growth projects, and expected exploration activity.
In Ghana, the reinvestment at Damang is essentially the equivalent of developing a new mine, while our investment in Asanko Gold also has the potential for longer-term growth through life-of-mine extension. The Gruyere JV is close to completing a new mine in Western Australia, with first production scheduled in Q2 2019. Finally, in the Americas region, we have successfully completed a feasibility study for the Salares Norte project in northern Chile.
These projects are important in terms of their contribution to the strategic objectives of Gold Fields, namely to maintain and grow cash-flow on a sustainable basis. Based on current projections, they are expected to operate at an AIC that is lower than the current AIC of the Group, once steady-state levels of production are realised. As such, management believes that the Group's overall cost of production has the potential to reduce over time.
We continue to invest in brownfields exploration in Australia with the objective of not only replacing what we mine, but also increasing our Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves at a higher quality than what has been mined previously. Finally, we need to optimally manage the ore bodies of our operating mines in terms of grade management and ongoing sustainable capital expenditure by planning for outcomes that optimise the lives of these ore bodies.
We should not forget the potential growth and profitability that we believe South Deep and its 33Moz in gold Reserves can offer Gold Fields in the longer-term. We have thus far failed to bring that potential to the fore, but I believe that the wide-ranging restructuring measures we implemented during 2018 – reducing the mine's footprint and cutting the accompanying cost structures – have laid the foundation for future growth. For 2019, the focus will be on improving productivity and reducing the mine's significant cash-outflows. But beyond that I believe we could see sustainable growth from South Deep that has the potential to add further to Group production.
A key element of the Group's underlying strategy, which has contributed towards improving the quality of the portfolio over the years, are value-accretive acquisitions. During 2018, this resulted in our acquisition of a 45% stake in AGM.
Given the amount of capital that has been committed to Gruyere, Damang, Asanko and South Deep, and the potential call on funding resources to build Salares Norte, should we decide to do so, management has adopted a cautious approach on future acquisitions.
I am confident that Gold Fields has put in place the strategies that will lead to sustained value creation in the medium to long-term, and will see the Company build on its current production profile.
Executive management has sought to align itself with investors through its long-term incentive scheme, a large portion of which relates to the performance of the share price over time. If we stay the course on which we have embarked, I am confident that the Company will achieve strong operational performances, cash-flow generation and profitable growth.
During 2018 the average US Dollar gold price declined marginally to US$1,252/oz from US$1,255/oz in 2017. It recovered strongly from lows in late November and Q1 2019 was trading in between US$1,290/oz - US$1,330/oz. In their assessments the World Gold Council (WGC) and the CPM Group credit gold's recent stronger performance to three main factors:
While management anticipates that these trends may have a positive impact on the gold price, Gold Fields has adopted a cautious approach and is planning its business for 2019 on the assumption of a US$1,200/oz gold price, the same as in 2018.
The fundamentals may support a firmer gold price in future. On the supply side the steady increase in primary gold supplies until 2015 has since stabilised to around 105Moz per annum. This is predominantly due to the cut in exploration spending as well as the dearth of new mines being built, but also exacerbated by the decline in grades and the increasing depth and complexity of the ore bodies being mined and processed.
Consumer demand in India and China, while significantly down on its highs over the last five years, should remain strong according to CPM and WGC, given economic growth, rising urbanisation and traditional affinity towards gold in these countries. Central banks continue to buy gold and it appears that most of the central banks that were looking to sell gold have already done so.
Management believes these factors bode well for the long-term future of gold, although the price will undoubtedly move through cycles with the attendant volatility.
Gold Fields' business plan for 2019 has been built around an average gold price of US$1,200/oz (A$1,600/oz, R525,000/kg) and assuming exchange rates of R13.8 per US$ and A$0.75 per US$.
As stated, 2019 is set to be an important growth year for Gold Fields, with the Damang project approaching completion and Gruyere commencing production. In addition, Asanko will contribute for a full year for the first time since acquisition. As a result the Company is guiding for an increase of 4% – 7% in attributable equivalent gold production in 2019 to 2.13Moz – 2.18Moz. AISC is expected to be between US$980/oz and US$995/oz and AIC between US$1,075/oz – US$1,095/oz. The year will however, be one of two halves, with both production and cash-flow being weighted to H2 2019.
The main drivers behind production and cost guidance for 2019 are:
With our two key projects set to reach fruition it means that our capital expenditure is expected to decline through 2019. Capex for 2019 is split into planned sustaining capital expenditure of US$490m (including near-mine exploration) and growth capital expenditure of US$143m. Growth capex comprises US$69m for Damang and A$99m (US$74m) for Gruyere. Expenditure on Salares Norte (which is not capitalised) is expected to be US$57m in 2019, comprising US$37m on fixed costs and engineering work and US$20m on district exploration. The capital expenditure above excludes Gold Fields' 50% share of Asanko's capital expenditure of US$25m for 2019, as this interest is equity accounted.
For 2019, Gold Fields has continued to undertake certain gold price hedging to secure short-term cash flow and protect the balance sheet from the volatility of the gold price as we complete our investment phase and ramp up the projects.
I would like to express my gratitude to my fellow directors, led by our Chairperson, Cheryl Carolus, for their support and guidance during 2018. I want to pay a special tribute to Don Ncube, who retired as Chairperson of the Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee and the Board in May 2018. He was a director of Gold Fields for 11 years and the input he provided in transforming the Company and building closer relations with our host communities, particularly at South Deep, will stand us in good stead for years to come.
The composition of our Executive Committee remained stable during 2018, with Rosh Bardien joining as Executive Vice President: People and Organisational Effectiveness in early 2018. I rely heavily on the members of this team in guiding and advising me in managing a complex, multinational company like Gold Fields. Each member of the team did a fantastic job in 2018.
Most importantly, I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to all the employees of Gold Fields. They have gone through some difficult times over the past year, with wide-ranging restructuring initiatives impacting their work lives, particularly for our colleagues at Tarkwa and South Deep. Their resilience, hard work and dedication never fails to astonish me and it gives me great comfort to know that I have this team behind me.
Nick Holland
CEO