Harmony Gold reports lower production in Q3 – FY23 guidance unchanged

Harmony Gold has announced that for the three months ended 30 September 2022 (Q1FY23), its total gold production was down 4% to 366,390oz from 381,919oz in Q4FY22 mainly due to the closure of Bambanani at the end of FY22.

The company said that its operational results for the first quarter of the financial year 2023 were driven primarily by a good performance from the South African (SA) underground and SA surface operations.

Harmony Gold added that adjusting for the closure of Bambanani, which delivered 10,192oz in the previous quarter, the remaining SA underground production increased by 2% to 272,219oz.

The company also reported 1% increase in gold revenue for Q1FY23 to US$659 million, adding that improved performances at its SA high-grade and SA optimized underground operations resulted in total group operating free cash flow increasing 17% to US$50 million.

The company’s net debt to EBITDA increased to 0.26 times in this quarter from 0.1 times in the previous quarter on the back of currency translation and working capital movements. Net debt increased to US$114 million from US$45 million.

Harmony Gold noted that its production guidance for FY23 remains unchanged and is estimated to be between 1.4Moz and 1.5Moz at an AISC of under R900,000/kg. Underground recovered grade is planned to be between 5.45g/t and 5.60g/t.

Harmony Gold has operations and assets in South Africa and Papua New Guinea (PNG). The company’s assets include one open pit mine and several exploration tenements in PNG, as well as 10 underground mines and 1 open pit operation and several surface sources in South Africa. In addition, Harmony owns 50% of the significant Wafi-Golpu copper-gold project – a tier 1 asset in a joint venture in PNG.