Johannesburg - Gold Fields [JSE:GFI], the South Africa-based producer of the metal with mines from Australia to Peru, said it will invest $1.4bn to extend the life of its Damang operation in Ghana.
The investment will allow the mine to continue operating until 2024, compared with 2017 previously, Johannesburg-based Gold Fields said in a statement Monday. The money will be paid over the eight-year period, it said.
Damang’s extended life will produce 1.56 million ounces of gold at an all-in cost of $950 an ounce and support 1 850 jobs, the company said. To produce that amount of bullion will require processing 32 million metric tons at a grade of 1.65 grams (0.06 ounce) of gold per ton.
Gold dropped 0.1% to $1 265.10 an ounce by 07:22.
Since mining began in 1997, Damang has produced more than 4 million ounces of gold from several of its open pits, but output has been in decline since 2013 and Gold Fields has struggled to find the required grade of ore. The company had considered closing the mine, it said in the statement.
Gold Fields’ production rose 1.5% in the quarter ended September 30 to 537 000 ounces from three months earlier, with all-in sustaining costs flat at $1 026 an ounce. It maintained its forecast for full-year output of 2.1 million to 2.15 million ounces.
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