Statement by Nick Holland,
Chief Executive Officer of Gold Fields:
“During the quarter under review we remained
focused on our strategy of turning Gold Fields
around, with a particular emphasis on achieving a
step change in our safety performance; whilst at
the same time increasing the production base and
maintaining rigorous cost control aimed at
improving the generation of free cash flow.
We regret to report five fatalities during the quarter.
However, the safety performance of the Group
continued to show an improving trend and F2009
thus far is our best safety year ever. With only two
months of the financial year remaining at the time
of writing this report, our fatalities for the year
stand at 13 compared to 47 during the prior
financial year, with all other metrics showing
significant improvements.
The positive impact of the improvement in safety is
felt throughout the Group and reflects in the
improved morale of our people.
We remain committed to eliminating all serious and
fatal accidents on all of our mines, as well as to our
guiding principle of: “we will not mine if we cannot
mine safely”.
Despite a very challenging March quarter,
including the Christmas break in South Africa, Gold Fields remains on a positive trajectory with
production increasing by 4 per cent in the quarter,
and eight of our nine mines showing improvements
in production.
This follows an overall increase of 5 per cent in
quarter two, bringing our total production increase
for the last two quarters to 10 per cent from the low
point experienced in the September 2008 quarter.
We anticipate a further increase of a similar size in
the next quarter.
During the quarter under review, increased
production at similar costs resulted in an improved
operating margin of 47 per cent, and positive cash
flow generation, which is a key component of our
strategy of realising value for shareholders.
Our operational performance for the quarter was
negatively impacted by a poor quarter at Beatrix
and commissioning problems with the newly
expanded CIL plant at Tarkwa. By the end of the
quarter many of the issues impacting the
performance of both mines had been addressed
and significant improvements are expected at both
mines in the June quarter, which should bode well
for the overall performance of the Group.”
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