Shares in Gold Fields fell the most since August on Thursday after the miner reduced its annual gold production forecast due to adverse weather conditions affecting the ramp-up at its new Salares Norte mine in Chile.
It said in a statement that the commissioning and ramp-up phase at Salares Norte had been disrupted by the early onset of winter in Chile in recent weeks, leading to frozen pipes at the process plant and temporary shutdowns.
The mine had been restarted, but commissioning and ramp-up during winter are expected to be challenging, leading to uncertainty in production levels, it said.
The projected production for Salares Norte for this financial year has been revised down from the initial estimate of between 220,000oz and 240,000oz to between 90,000oz and 180,000oz.
Consequently, the group’s production costs for 2024 have been revised to between $1,675/oz and $1,740/oz, up from the previously guided $1,600-$1,650.
The company said it poured its first gold from the Salares Norte mine in April. This came after several delays since its construction, including the effect of a slow recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, adverse weather conditions, supply chain constraints and construction labour scarcity.
Gold Fields said processing its first gold from Salares Norte marked a considerable milestone, given that the group had taken the mine from discovery through exploration and development, to production over the past 13 years.
The company warned that severe weather conditions in Australia and Peru, with operational challenges in SA, also affected production in the first quarter of 2024.
Its share price on the JSE had slumped 11.25% to R258.57.
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