Gold Fields Profit Jumps on Bullion Boom and Output Recovery

(Bloomberg) — Gold Fields Ltd. said full-year profit surged 77% last year after the price of bullion soared, while the company started to overcome operational challenges at mines in Chile and South Africa.

Earnings climbed to $1.25 billion in 2024, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Thursday. Gold Fields expects production of 2.25 million to 2.45 million ounces this year, an increase of as much as 18%.

“We had strong support from the gold price,” Chief Executive Office Mike Fraser said in an interview. That boom helped boost Gold Field’s free cash flow by 65% to $605 million and allowed the firm to bump its dividend by more than a third, he said.

The company’s shares climbed by as much as 6.7% in Johannesburg, bringing this year’s gain to over 50%.

Gold Fields produced about half its gold in 2024 from four Australian assets, while mines in Ghana, South Africa, Chile and Peru accounted for the rest. The company trimmed output guidance twice last year as it scaled back expectations for South Deep in its home country and Salares Norte in the Andes.

A severe winter slowed the ramp-up of output at Salares Norte. The open pit mine — about 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) above sea level in Chile — has experienced multiple delays but is one of the main drivers of Gold Fields’ plan to replace mature assets and increase production. 

With commercial output now expected to begin during the second quarter of the year, Gold Fields said the mine will produce up to 375,000 ounces of low-cost gold equivalent this year and as much as 580,000 ounces in 2026.

Across its portfolio, Gold Fields produced 25% more gold in the final six months of 2024 than during the preceding half year, helped by a rebound at its South Deep mine. 

“I think we are in a lot better shape than we were at the start of 2024,” Fraser said.

Gold prices have surged more than 40% since the beginning of last year, notching multiple records during the period and driving acquisitions by miners of the precious metal. Last year, Gold Fields announced a $1.6 billion deal to buy Osisko Mining Inc., giving the company full control of the Windfall development project in Canada, which is targeting first output in 2028.

Gold Fields was unable to secure approval for a plan to merge the Tarkwa mine in Ghana – the company’s biggest producer – with AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.’s Iduapriem before the West African country’s previous government was voted from power in December. The firm is working to set up meetings with the nation’s new president and natural resources minister to discuss the matter, Fraser said.

Like its peer AngloGold., which reported a $1 billion profit on Wednesday, Gold Fields said capital expenditure will remain elevated this year. The company expects total capex of as much as $1.55 billion.

(Updates with CEO comments in third paragraph)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com