Australian Gold Fields

Australian Gold Fields delivers record earnings plus a 6% rise in production from the Australian mines to 169,000oz (159,000oz) - was more than enough to offset drops at Cerro Corona in Peru and, in particular, in South Africa.South African production fell to 428,300oz (497,000oz) because of wage-related industrial action, safety stoppages and a slight drop in grade.Particularly sharp drops in output took place at Beatrix and, more worringly, at South Deep. This is the mechanised, deep-level operation which is slowly ramping up production and on which Gold Fields’ long-term future in South Africa depends. 

On the exploration front, Gold Fields has moved to increase its exposure to the Philippines, making a second down-payment of $66m in terms of its agreement to take a 60% stake in the gold-copper FSE deposit.

Gold Fields fourth Largest Gold producer reported Gold's Record run

The world’s fourth-largest gold producer "Gold Fields" , make reported a 58% surge in third-quarter earnings on Thursday fuelled by gold’s record run but fell just short of analysts’ bullish expectations.

The "Gold Fields" group also said it was now aiming to produce 3,5-million ounces of gold in 2011, the bottom end of a targeted range of between 3,5-million and 3,7-million ounces, as it tries to take full advantage of sky-high bullion prices.The company said it expected to hit this target "despite the recent wage-related industrial action and higher than expected safety-related stoppages which disrupted the South African operations."

The rate gold price was up about 13% to just over $1700 an ounce during the quarter to the end of September compared to the previous one. In rand terms it was up around 20% and both trends flowed to Gold Fields’ bottom line as about 50% of its output comes from South Africa.

As expected, the "Gold Fields" group said its production for the quarter rose 3% to 900000 ounces, a figure it had already flagged.Its adjusted earnings per share leapt to 291 cents from 184 cents in the previous quarter. A Reuters poll of six analysts had seen the number coming in at 303,5 cents.