GOLD FIELDS – Update on Salares Norte Project
As reported in the Company’s Q1 2024 operational update, ramp-up at the Salares Norte Project (“Salares Norte” or “the Project”) has been negatively impacted by the early onset of winter events in Chile which have persisted in recent weeks.
These weather events resulted in the freezing of material in the piping of the process plant (“Plant”) causing temporary shutdown of the Plant. These impacts have been greater than planned owing to the early onset and extended duration of winter conditions during the commissioning and ramp-up phase.
The Plant has been restarted, however, commissioning and ramp-up during the winter period are expected to continue to be challenging, creating uncertainty on production levels during the winter months.
Calendar year 2024 production for the Project is therefore being revised down from the previously indicated gold equivalent ounces range of 220koz – 240koz, to 90koz – 180koz.
The design criteria of the Plant will be capable of handling such winter weather events at steady state and total Project capital costs remain in line with the guidance at US$1,180m – US$1,200m.
Due to the Salares Norte production revision, Gold Fields is revising2024 group production guidance from 2.33Moz – 2.43Moz to 2.20Moz –2.30Moz.
All-in costs for the group in 2024 are revised from the US$1,600/oz –US$1,650/oz range previously guided to US$1,675/oz – US$1,740/oz while guidance for all-in sustaining costs is revised to US$1,470/oz –US$1,530/oz (compared to the US$1,410/oz – US$1,460/oz range previously guided).
