Commentary Corporate

Final cash dividend

In line with the Company’s dividend policy, the Board has approved and declared a final dividend number 95 of 260 SA cents per ordinary share (gross) in respect of the year ended 31 December 2021. The final dividend will be subject to the Dividend Withholding Tax of 20 per cent. In accordance with paragraphs 11.17(a) (i) and 11.17(c) of the JSE Listings Requirements, the following additional information is disclosed:

The dividend has been declared out of income reserves;

The gross local dividend amount is 260 SA cents per ordinary share for shareholders exempt from dividends tax;

• The Dividend Withholding Tax of 20 per cent (twenty per centum) will be applicable to this dividend;
• The net local dividend amount is 260 SA cents per ordinary share for shareholders liable to pay the dividends tax;
• Gold Fields currently has 887,717,348 ordinary shares in issue; and
• Gold Fields’ income tax number is 9160035607.

Shareholders are advised of the following dates in respect of the final dividend:

• Final dividend number 95: 260 SA cents per share;
• Last date to trade cum-dividend: Tuesday, 8 March 2022;
• Sterling and US Dollar conversion date: Wednesday, 9 March 2022;
• Shares commence trading ex-dividend: Wednesday, 9 March 2022;
• Record date: Friday, 11 March 2022; and
• Payment of dividend: Monday, 14 March 2022.

Share certificates may not be dematerialised or rematerialised between Wednesday, 9 March 2022 and Friday, 11 March 2022, both dates inclusive.

Gold Fields top SA-listed mining company in 2021 DJSI ranking

In November 2021, Gold Fields was ranked 3rd among 81 mining companies assessed and 2nd among gold mining companies. Gold Fields’ score was 81/100, more than double the industry average of 34 and just two percentage points behind the joint leaders, Canada’s Teck Resources and Newmont Corporation of the US.

Gold Fields has consistently achieved a top five metals and mining ranking in the DJSI since it started participating in 2011.

The 2021 DJSI scorecard measures a range of environmental, social and governance (ESG) management practices through an annual assessment of the world's 1,800+ largest companies. The DJSI assessment is carried out by ratings agency Standard & Poor Global as part of its annual Corporate Sustainability Assessment.

Gold Fields addresses environmental sanction proceedings against Salares Norte project

In December 2021, Gold Fields was notified that Chile’s Environmental Regulator (SMA) has begun sanction proceedings against the Salares Norte project due to infringements in the process of relocating short-tailed chinchillas residing in the project area.

The sanction proceedings will not impact the commissioning of the Salares Norte mine in the Atacama region in northern Chile, due to be completed in Q1 2023, as the mine and processing plant construction is not taking place in an area of known chinchilla habitation.

The SMA halted the rescue and relocation programme carried out by Salares Norte following the death of two of four chinchillas relocated in October 2020.

Based on the scenario and risk assessment performed, we believe Salares Norte has at all times sought to act responsibly and in line with the process outlined in the project’s Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA).

Even though Salares Norte considers that it could possibly take some of the charges presented by the SMA on review, Gold Fields accepts them and will now submit a new compliance programme to the SMA for its approval. The programme will propose a range of actions to strengthen the process of capturing and relocating the chinchillas in line with RCA requirements. These, we believe, will minimise the risk to the chinchillas while at the same time ensuring the long-term continuity of the project.

The new compliance programme is being developed by our technical and legal teams supported by independent environmental experts. Now that the SMA has informed us of the infringements that serve as a basis for its charges, we will incorporate the specific aspects so we can submit the programme to the environmental authority, along with the required background information, for approval.

We will also continue to contribute to strengthening the research and enhance the scientific knowledge base about the chinchilla as part of our long-term commitment to the conservation of the species and the overall environmental well-being of the area.

Gold Fields announces 2030 ESG targets

In December 2021, Gold Fields published a comprehensive set of 2030 targets for its most material environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities.

The targets include a commitment to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 30% on a net basis and by 50% on an absolute basis by 2030. As a signatory to the Paris Agreement on climate change, Gold Fields is committed to Net Zero carbon by 2050.

The Company is also setting ambitious new goals for its water and environmental stewardship, the management of its tailing facilities and to creating value for its stakeholders, particularly host communities. For its employees, Gold Fields is seeking to further improve safety, health and well-being, and to achieve greater inclusion and diversity, by targeting a 30% female workforce by 2030.

Gold Fields has therefore embedded ESG as one of the three pillars in its strategy. The three pillars are:

• Maximise potential from current assets through people and innovation
• Build on our leading commitment to ESG
• Grow the value and quality of our portfolio of assets

Furthermore, Gold Fields has developed new Purpose and Vision statements that reflect the strengthened commitment to ESG. The new Vision, which replaces the previous commitment to leadership in sustainable gold mining, is:

• To be the preferred gold mining company delivering sustainable, superior value.

The Purpose Statement is:

• Creating enduring value beyond mining.

Gold Fields’ new ESG Charter is built on the substantive work that the Company has carried out since 2016, including:

• Investing US$400m in energy projects, largely funded through power purchasing agreements (PPAs), already ensuring that two of our Australian mines are partially powered by renewable energies.
• Commencing the construction of a R715m solar power plant at South Deep that will provide the mine with about a quarter of its power requirements and save it over R120m a year in electricity costs. The capacity of the plant has been increased from 40MW to 50MW.
• Raising the percentage of women in the workforce from 15% in 2016 to 21% at present.
• Ensuring that a significant amount of the value Gold Fields creates remains with its communities through a focus on host community employment and procurement.
• Limiting our impact on the environment by curtailing serious environmental incidents, recycling over 70% of the water our operations use in their processes and limiting freshwater usage by our mines.

Our ESG priorities, their respective 2030 targets and last year’s performance against these indicators are as follows:

Priority	2030 Targets
1. Decarbonisation	50% absolute and 30% net emission reductions from a 2016 baseline (Scope 1+2) Net zero emissions by 2050
2. Tailings management	Compliance with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) Reduce the number of active upstream raised TSFs to 3
3. Water stewardship	80% water recycled/reused 45% reduction in freshwater use from a 2018 baseline
4. Safety, health, well-being and the environment	Zero fatalities Zero serious injuries Zero serious environmental incidents
5. Gender diversity	30% women representation
6. Stakeholder value creation	30% of total value created benefits host communities 6 flagship projects benefiting host communities

Gold Fields will report progress against these targets as part of its annual results reporting each year.

The investment in decarbonising Gold Fields could total about US$1.2bn until 2030, of which about a quarter will be financed by the Company, with the remainder being funded through PPAs. All projects are expected to be NPV positive.

The capital investment required to ensure even safer tailings storage facilities (TSFs) at our operations and reduce the number of upstream facilities to three is estimated at US$325m. A further US$25m is required to achieve compliance of our TSFs with the GISTM. Both the investment in decarbonisation and safer TSFs will follow detailed evaluation to determine the most optimal spend and partnering methodology.

Sound corporate governance and a commitment to transparency underpin Gold Fields’ work on ESG priorities. For the past 10 years Gold Fields has been ranked among the top five mining companies on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. It reports against the leading global reporting and sustainability frameworks, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Gold Fields maintains leadership in water stewardship

In December 2021, Gold Fields maintained its leadership in water stewardship as adjudicated by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) NGO.

The CDP again placed Gold Fields on its A List for tackling water security, one of 118 high-performing companies out of almost 3,400 that made 2021’s water security top level. This recognises Gold Fields’ demonstrable actions to protect water resources as well as transparent reporting on its water performance.

Gold Fields was ranked A-, a step below the highest possible A level it had achieved in 2020. In the preceding years we had been predominantly ranked in the B category. The average 2021 score among the 169 mining and metals companies surveyed by the CDP was a B- and only 12 were ranked in the leadership category.

Gold Fields listed water stewardship as one of its six key environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities and announced two water management performance targets for 2030:

• Ensure that 80% of the water used by our operations is recycled or reused, from the current level of 73%.
• Reduce freshwater usage by 45% from a 2018 base. By 2020 a 35% reduction had been achieved.

Gold Fields was ranked 7th out of 327 JSE-listed companies and 27 state-owned enterprises in the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s annual Biodiversity Disclosure Project. Our score improved by 11% over the 2019 evaluation. Ratings agency MSCI upgraded its ESG rating of Gold Fields from BBB to A for the first time, while rating group ISS assigned Gold Fields a top rating of E 1 S 1 G 1.