The Group has had a much improved safety performance in the second half of the year. The Group’s fatal injury frequency rate improved from 0.15 in the September quarter to 0.02 in the December quarter. Regrettably there was one fatality in the South Africa region during the quarter. However, it was pleasing that KDC achieved two million fatality free shifts. Agnew, Damang, Tarkwa and Cerro Corona reported zero lost time injuries. We continue our focus and efforts on improving safety and health through engineering out the risks, ensuring compliance to standards, active stakeholder engagement and behavioural-based safety programmes.

In the December 2011 quarter Gold Fields benefitted from higher gold prices and allied with good cost control, realised improved earnings, despite a 2 per cent decrease in Group attributable gold production to 883,000 ounces. Earnings for the quarter increased by 27 per cent to R2,605 million (US$336 million) or 361 SA cents per share (US$0.47 per share), when compared with the previous quarter.

The improvement in net earnings is largely attributable to a 13 per cent increase in the realised rand gold price, as well as sound cost control underpinned by the Group-wide Business Process Re-engineering programme. Net operating costs decreased from R5,404 million (US$766 million) in the September quarter to R5,359 million (US$656 million) in the December quarter.

Net earnings for the year ended December 2011 increased to R7,027 million (US$973 million), compared with R1,139 million (US$153 million) in calendar 2010. Over the same period the average gold price increased by 29 per cent in US dollar terms and 27 per cent in Rand terms.

As a result of the higher earnings achieved during the quarter, we are able to declare a final dividend of 230 SA cents per share, bringing our total dividend for 2011 to 330 SA cents per share.

Notional cash expenditure (NCE) for the Group increased to R313,286 per kilogram (US$1,206 per ounce) in the December quarter from R274,615 per kilogram (US$1,212 per ounce) in the September quarter as a result of higher capital expenditure and a weaker rand to the dollar partly offset by the lower operating costs. The higher capital expenditure reflects an increase at South Deep, in line with schedule, and higher sustaining capital at all operations to maintain and, in some cases, improve medium to longer term production profiles.

The NCE margin of 28 per cent remains ahead of our long-term target of 25 per cent, while the NCE per kilogram in the South Africa region remained flat at R331,541 per kilogram (US$1,276 per ounce). The NCE margin for the South Africa region increased to 24 per cent from 16 per cent in the September quarter, mainly due to the higher rand gold price and sound cost control. For the South Africa region, excluding the South Deep project which is in a build-up phase, the NCE margin was 35 per cent in the December quarter compared with 24 per cent in the September quarter.

We continue to make good progress on our growth portfolio. In South America, the Chucapaca feasibility study is on schedule, with baseline field work for environmental permitting completed. We are on schedule to complete the feasibility study during the 2012 and submit the project’s environmental impact assessment during second half of 2012.

At the Far Southeast project in the Philippines, drilling to confirm and test the limits of the previously defined mineralisation was completed in October 2011. The new drilling identified significant extensions to mineralisation beyond original interpretations and on-going drilling programmes will now scope the full system and complete resource infill drilling of the main zone. Various bulk mining options are under investigation focussing on an initial exploration target of 900 million tonnes at 0.77 grams per tonne gold and 0.54 per cent copper.

At the Arctic Platinum project in Finland, pilot scale test-work has demonstrated that the Platsol process can effectively recover copper, nickel, gold and PGE metals at an on-site processing facility. The prefeasibility study is continuing with a focus on re-engineering the project to fully optimise the potential capital spend. The study includes a full review of the process plant design and infrastructure, optimisation of the mining schedules and definition of additional resources at the Suhanko North prospect which could provide greater flexibility and a larger ore body.

In West Africa, resource infill drilling for the Damang Super-pit prefeasibility study was finalised in October 2011. An updated resource model is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2012. Mining and engineering studies have progressed to schedule with specific focus on plant design options and location, tailings and waste disposal locations and strategies as well as water balance management.

The focus for 2012 will continue to be on improved health and safety, sustained production levels, increased development to create flexibility, vigorous cost control and further momentum on the growth pipeline.