Harmony Gold, which operates mines in SA and Papua New Guinea, says it has met its revised 2022 production guidance of up to 1.56-million ounces, while safety has also improved, and it saw no mining deaths in January and February for the first time in its more than 70-year history.
This, however, is only a silver lining for a company that saw 13 deaths during its year to end-June, up from 11 in the prior year, and 2022’s figure is the fourth-highest in the past decade.
Harmony said on Tuesday that safety remained its highest priority and was seeing an increase in accident-free days, with its lost-time injury frequency rate trending lower for three-consecutive quarters.
The group said its SA underground assets had performed well in tough conditions, and it had met its 2022 guidance of between 1.48-million and 1.56-million ounces.
In Papua New Guinea, the group’s Hidden Valley mine resumed full production after the overland belt failure in January 2022, and that incident had resulted in the group cutting its guidance about 4%. The group had previously guided as much as 1.63-million ounces.
The Hidden Valley mine is an open-pit gold and silver operation 210km northwest of New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby. Harmony also operates underground mines and one open-pit operation in SA, as well as several surface treatment operations.
“Full-year 2022 has been a year in which Harmony has again shown its ability to turn headwinds into opportunities,” CEO Peter Steenkamp said in a statement.
“Not only did we meet our annual production guidance, but we took a bold step forward on our decarbonisation journey. We finished this financial year on the front foot, confident and with good momentum,” he said.
The group has secured a R1.5bn green loan linked to sustainable performance indicators, and the group is eyeing carbon neutrality by 2045.
By the JSE’s close on Tuesday Harmony’s share price was down 4.66% to R53.18, while the JSE’s precious metals index fell 3.31%. The group’s shares have fallen 20% so far in 2022, roughly in line with the losses of the index.
With Nico Gous
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