SIBANYE Gold shares fell 11% to R25 on Monday after the mining group reported a poor quarterly performance. This has been blamed on costs rocketing and production falling for a variety of reasons, including underground fires, conveyor belt problems and Eskom power cuts.Operating profit for the three months to end-March slumped to R774m from R1.74bn in the same period last year and R2.2bn at the end of December.Cash costs rose by nearly R100,000/kg to R384,839/kg in the three months to end-March, compared with R289,959/kg in the same quarter a year earlier.All-in costs shot up to R473,573/kg from R365,187/kg.The average gold price received in the quarter was R459,564/kg.The shares were down 11% at R25.08 in late afternoon trade, making it the largest faller of the gold majors on the JSE.Sibanye, the largest producer of South African gold, maintained its full-year output target of between 1.61-million and 1.67-million ounces of gold.CEO Neal Froneman said the reasons for the underperf...
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