Gold Fields to pay out dividend despite sharp drop in profit
Difficulties at the South Deep mine — which is in development — were a blot on the miner’s interim results
Gold Fields declared an interim dividend of 40c per share despite a steep drop in interim profit as the company advanced its capital projects in Ghana as well as Australia. The only asset in SA, the South Deep mine, which is ramping up to full production over the next five years, had a poor start to the year. But CEO Nick Holland reiterated the company’s commitment to keeping the mine, which has absorbed R29bn and needs R2bn more to complete it. News that “de-stress mining”, which eases rock pressures in working areas, had improved in the second quarter compared with the first, leading to management guiding towards a better second-half operational performance was “positive for sentiment”, said Royal Bank of Canada analyst Richard Hatch. Production guidance for 315,000oz for the year “continues to look a stretch”, he said.
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