South African-headquartered Gold Fields is closely watching Western Australian gold sector’s consolidation, with $2.5 billion in the bank.
South African-headquartered Gold Fields is closely watching Western Australian gold sector’s consolidation, with $2.5 billion in the bank.
The owner of the Gruyere, Granny Smith and St Ives goldmines in WA’s Goldfields unveiled its full-year results this afternoon.
The financials were headlined by a 68 per cent revenue uptick to US$8.75 billion ($12.4 billion) from a portfolio spanning 10 projects around the world.
At the end of December, Gold Fields had $2.5 billion in the bank off a $3.8 billion profit last year.
Gold Fields acquired joint venture partner Gold Road Resources for $3.7 billion, but its cash in hand and a soaring local dollar gold price has speculators considering its next moves.
Speaking to Business News from South Africa, chief executive Mike Fraser said the company was not looking for quick production ounces but was considering its options locally.
“Where there are opportunities to bolt-on accretive things, we will do that – like we did with the other half of Gruyere,” he said.
“But I think the thing that really excites us is to continue to look at these bolt on opportunities where there’s consolidation in the sector.
“That’s where value gets created, that’s why we’ll continue to look at that, and we think there are a lot of sensible opportunities for consolidation in WA in particular.”
Mr Fraser reiterated consolidation was top of mind when it came to cash generation but did not offer specifics.
“We talk to people all the time,” he said when pressed.
At Gruyere, Gold Fields has seen the fruits of its efforts to buy out joint venture partner from what was a tense relationship at times.
Mr Fraser said the consolidation allowed Gold Fields to find an “unconstrained way forward” for the asset, including exploration of the broader potential of the Yamarna gold belt – parts of which which were previously owned by Gold Road outside the JV.
Gruyere was impacted by ground instability, rock fall incidents and higher staff turnover in the second half of the year, according to the annual report.
The mine’s output increased 3 per cent year-on-year to 295,600 ounces and is forecast to grow again this year.
“I think we’re setting it up now for the long term,” Mr Fraser said.
All-in sustaining costs at Gruyere and Granny Smith – where production output was down 9 per cent in line with Gold Fields’ business plan – rose 28 and 31 per cent respectively in local currency terms.
Mr Fraser put that down to one-off reinvestments in those assets but acknowledged cost creep had become a factor on some of Gold Fields’ Australian mines.
“You are still seeing tight labour markets, and so we have seen contractors as we’ve renewed contracts, certainly pushing above inflation increases into the business,” he said.
“That’s the stuff we can control and try to offset through different ways of working.
“But the uncontrollable certainly has quite a big impact on the cost increases in our business.”
Gold Fields produced 2.4 million ounces of gold equivalent globally in the 2025 calendar year.
