Harmony will meet annual production, grade, and cost guidance for FY24.
JOHANNESBURG, Harmony Gold Mining Company will meet annual production, grade, and cost guidance for FY24. Exceptional operating free cash flow generation continues due to improved recovered grades, a higher rand gold price received, and sustained operational excellence.
Peter Steenkamp, chief executive officer of Harmony Gold Mining Company, reflects on the Company’s past financial year, which ends on 30 June 2024 (“FY24”).
“Operational excellence, alongside our safety efforts, has ensured that we recorded another stellar year. We continue delivering excellent underground-recovered grades from our South African operations. Total underground recovered grades will be higher than the guided 6g/t for FY24.
Total production for the group is expected to exceed the FY24 guidance of 1 550 000 ounces (48 210kg), while all-in-sustaining costs will come in comfortably below R920 000/kg, as guided, for this financial year. We also expect total capital expenditure to be marginally below the guided R8.6 billion.
This financial year’s solid operational performance results from a longer-term strategy implemented in 2016 when I became CEO at Harmony. This growth strategy clearly defined where we wanted to be as a company, placing us on a new trajectory. Our aim is to be the best at what we do; the past year is testimony to that. I believe we achieved this goal, positioning us as the champions of gold mining in South Africa.
Our high-grade assets have transformed Harmony’s portfolio, giving us a bright and promising future. Our key projects in execution are critical in unlocking significant long-term value for our shareholders and stakeholders. Our balance sheet has been bolstered, and our group operating free cash flow margins have improved, enabling us to take the Eva Copper project up the value curve.
Our cost base is predominantly rand-based, with most operating costs comprising labour, consumables and electricity. We continue to benefit from the high rand per kilogramme gold price. Having signed a five-year wage agreement with all five of our unions, we have maintained high certainty and predictability regarding our planning parameters. We have built a solid balance sheet, which remains in a net cash position.
Although Harmony has entered a cycle of higher capital expenditures, this is necessary to ensure we continue replacing our Mineral Reserves while improving the quality of our portfolio. Our hedging programme, which allowed us to lock in margins at a higher rand gold price, combined with our balance sheet strength, places us in a fortunate position that all our capital needs are affordable and funded through internally generated cash flows. As a result, we are in an excellent position to pursue our growth ambitions while rewarding our shareholders through dividends.
In our planning for FY25, we have continued to allocate most of our project capital to our higher-grade, higher-quality, and lower-risk assets. This aligns with our strategy of producing safe, profitable ounces and improving margins through operational excellence and value-accretive acquisitions.
By growing our higher-grade gold mines, expanding our surface retreatment business, and our international gold and copper assets, we will continue to transform and de-risk Harmony. We will provide a comprehensive update on our FY25 plans at our year-end results scheduled for Wednesday, the 28th of August 2024.”
