“Gold Fields has demonstrated its ability to translate the rising gold price to the bottom line with a 62 per cent increase in net earnings to R2,055 million during the September quarter. Over the same period the gold price increased by 14 per cent in US dollar terms and 18 per cent in Rand terms.

Attributable production for the Group increased by 3 per cent from 872,000 gold equivalent ounces in the June quarter to 900,000 gold equivalent ounces in the September quarter. This improvement was achieved despite the five day wage related industrial action at our South African operations. The acquisition of non-controlling interests in our Ghanaian operations contributed to the higher attributable production figure. It also enhanced the geographical diversification of our portfolio, with about 50 per cent of production now derived from our international operations.

Sound cost control remains in place across the Group with the ongoing Business Process Re-engineering initiatives delivering satisfactory results. As a consequence, net operating cost in the South Africa region was only 2 per cent higher than the June quarter despite the annual wage increase effective from 1 July, as well as two months of significantly higher winter electricity tariffs in South Africa.

The notional cash expenditure (NCE) margin for the Group increased to 29 per cent in the September quarter, well ahead of the June quarter’s 21 per cent and the Group’s long-term target of 25 per cent. The NCE margin in the South Africa region improved to 16 per cent in the September quarter from 7 per cent in the June quarter. Excluding the impact of the South Deep project which is in a build-up phase and not yet generating positive NCE margins, the South Africa region’s NCE margin was 24 per cent, up from 15 per cent in the June quarter. In Australasia, the NCE margin increased from 16 per cent in the June quarter to 24 per cent in the September quarter. In West Africa, the NCE margin for the September quarter was 46 per cent and in South America 58 per cent, both similar to the June quarter.

Safety remains our most important operational challenge. Despite a decline of 25 per cent in the Group’s fatal injury frequency rate during the quarter, unfortunately we still had six fatalities at our South African operations. Although we have achieved an encouraging improvement in the Group safety over the past three years there has been limited progress in the past 12 months despite our best efforts. We maintain our commitment to safety and will continue to focus on further improvements.

During the September quarter significant progress was made in support of our growth strategy to achieve 5 million quality gold equivalent ounces, in production or in development, by the end of 2015, while at the same time diversifying our production base across the globe. These strategies are primarily driven through our project pipeline.

At Chucapaca in Peru, we announced an updated indicated and inferred mineral resource of 7.6 million gold equivalent ounces for the Canahuire deposit, a 35 per cent increase over the initial resource of 5.6 million ounces declared in May 2010. All drilling for the feasibility study was completed during October 2011 and we aim to finalise the feasibility study and submit the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) application by mid-2012.

At the Far Southeast project in the Philippines, the initial proof-of concept drill results have confirmed our initial understanding of the scale and grade of the deposit and demonstrated significant upside potential at depth and in all lateral directions. On the back of positive drilling results we have made the second down payment of US$66 million in terms of the option agreements to acquire a 60 per cent interest in the project. We have eight drill rigs on site and plan to deliver a first resource during the second half of 2012.

At the Arctic Platinum project in Finland, we have completed the two 50 tonne pilot plant test programmes, which largely confirmed the previous bench scale test work indicating an improvement of up to 25 per cent in metallurgical recoveries. The current focus is on consolidating these results in a pre-feasibility study which is underway.

At the Yanfolila project in southern Mali, we have completed a scoping study which indicates that the project requires a minimum 1.5 million ounces resource base to satisfy project thresholds. Exploration drilling to expand the resource base is scheduled to start in the December quarter.

In South Africa, the South Deep project continues to progress and we anticipate completing the key infrastructure projects, being the ventilation shaft and the expansion to the processing plant by the end of 2012.

At the Damang open pit expansion project in Ghana, we are targeting a 4 million ounce open pit mining resource to support a potential doubling of production. Work on this project is continuing apace.”