EARNINGS BOOSTED BY HIGHER PRODUCTION AND GOLD PRICE

JOHANNESBURG. 7 May 2009, Gold Fields Limited (NYSE & JSE: GFI) today announced headline earnings for the March 2009 quarter of R1,512 million, compared with headline earnings of R484 million and R1,246 million for the December 2008 and the March 2008 quarters respectively. In US dollar terms headline earnings for the March 2009 quarter were US$163 million, compared with earnings of US$55 million and US$176 million for the December 2008 and the March 2008 quarters respectively.

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Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this document constitute “forward looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the US Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from the future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other important factors include among others: economic, business and political conditions in South Africa, Ghana, Australia, Peru and elsewhere; the ability to achieve anticipated efficiencies and other cost savings in connection with past and future acquisitions, exploration and development activities; decreases in the market price of gold or copper; hazards associated with underground and surface gold mining; labour disruptions; availability terms and deployment of capital or credit; changes in government regulations, particularly environmental regulations; and new legislation affecting mining and mineral rights; changes in exchange rates; currency devaluations; inflation and other macro-economic factors, industrial action, temporary stoppages of mines for safety reasons; and the impact of the AIDS crisis in South Africa. These forward looking statements speak only as of the date of this document.

The company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to these forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

 

 

Stock data
JSE Limited – (GFI)
Number of shares in issue Range - Quarter ZAR77.37 – ZAR123.50
- at end March 2009 704,237,969 Average Volume - Quarter 3,244,318 shares / day
- average for the quarter 669,602,482 NYSE – (GFI)
Free Float 100% Range - Quarter US$7.94 – US$12.47
ADR Ratio 1:1 Average Volume - Quarter 9,350,542 shares / day
Bloomberg / Reuters GFISJ / GFLJ.J  

March 2009 quarter salient features:

  • Attributable gold production increased 4 per cent to 871,000 ounces;
  • Operating profit increased 55 per cent to R4.0 billion;
  • Total cash costs decreased 2 per cent from R153,893 per kilogram (US$487 per ounce) to R150,301 per kilogram (US$471 per ounce);
  • Notional cash expenditure decreased 13 per cent from R244,210 per kilogram (US$774 per ounce) to R213,403 per kilogram (US$668 per ounce);
  • Mvela Gold subscribed for 15 per cent of GFI Mining South Africa (Pty) Limited (GFIMSA) and exercised its right to use the GFIMSA shares to subscribe for 50 million new ordinary shares in Gold Fields Limited;
  • Net debt decreased from R9.4 billion (US$970 million) to R7.7 billion (US$810 million);
  • Liquidity improved by cost effective refinancing package.

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.”