Our Board serves as the Group's highest governing body and is responsible for overseeing the execution of the Group's strategy while upholding sound principles of corporate governance; protecting our employees' safety and wellbeing and our host communities' interests; and acting as a responsible corporate citizen.
We believe good governance directly contributes to our sustainability as a business. The Board advances our purpose – creating enduring value beyond mining – by supporting value creation through good governance as set out below.
How our Board supports value creation
Setting the tone for a culture of integrity and responsible corporate citizenship that are anchored in the Group’s purpose and values and reflected in how we make decisions and reward performance.
Approving Gold Fields' robust strategy, along with strategic direction and goals that drive sustainability while balancing stakeholder interests.
Advancing fair remuneration by ensuring executive pay is equitable, responsible and aligned with Gold Fields' strategy, promoting business performance on a strong cultural foundation.
Driving inclusive stakeholder engagement based on transparency and ongoing consultation, as well as collaborative and informed decision-making, while also overseeing our reporting and disclosure to allow stakeholders to make informed assessments of our performance and impact.
Creating a safe and healthy work environment by upholding our guarantee that everyone who works at Gold Fields goes home safe and well every day and ensuring adequate oversight of physical and psychological safety.
Rigorously ensuring regulatory compliance and adherence to laws, regulations and the adopted rules, codes and standards and the highest levels of corporate governance.
Delivering on our commitment to sustainability, with an emphasis on overseeing community impact and value creation, as well as health, safety and environmental performance through Board committees.
We bolster our governance approach by aligning our processes, practices and structures with King IV and as set out in About this report, we also subscribe to, align with or are a member of several other international standards and guidelines.
Our King IV application register, which follows the disclosure and application approach, is included in our Governance and Remuneration Report
Gold Fields' foundation is built on strong ethics, driven by our Board and committees, fostering a culture of integrity, ethical decision-making and transparent reporting. We believe this foundation strengthens trust, enhances our reputation and creates sustainable value.
We have robust mechanisms in place to ensure ethical conduct, regulatory compliance and the entrenchment of good governance principles across the business.
1. Legal and complianceWe proactively manage legal, regulatory and reputational risks through a robust governance and compliance framework. We review our legislative and regulatory environment, and conduct detailed risk assessments to identify key focus areas. We implement robust controls to eliminate or mitigate identified risks and ensure compliance.
2. Audit and riskThe Board determines the risk appetite for the Group, while management is responsible for defining the measures that will be used to assess appetite status and embedding these in business performance management and reporting. Our Risk Committee reviews management reports on the status of key risks and opportunities, which are reported to the Board regularly. The Board supports management in ensuring that risk exposures are maintained within appetite and in highlighting and addressing unacceptable exposures where necessary. Our Audit Committee oversees the combined assurance process implemented by the Risk and Internal Audit teams. The risk appetite guidance from the Board, along with management's opinion on key risk status, determines assurance priorities, and the internal audit team ensures that the necessary internal controls are in place to maintain risk exposures to within appetite. The Audit Committee ensures the integrity of Gold Fields' accounting records and financial statements, and is supported by the Company's external auditors. PwC have been the Company's auditor since 2019.
3. Code of Conduct and confidential hotlineOur Code of Conduct reflects Gold Fields' values and shapes how we operate, and extends to our supply chain. Employees receive the Code during onboarding and participate in training. Our Code of Conduct will be comprehensively reviewed, refreshed and updated in 2025. A confidential hotline is available to all employees and stakeholders across regions, backed by the Group's Whistleblower Policy. During the year, we started a review of our confidential hotline process to align to the current environment, integrate it with the Code of Conduct, ensure secure incident reporting and promote effective and confidential handling of matters.
4. Commitment to leading practiceWe uphold and promote continuous improvement in ethical, responsible mining and are guided by a range of international standards and industry best practices. This includes, among others, legislation and regulations of the countries in which we operate, the requirements of King IV, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the requirements of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).