Board-Ansicht
Mix-Ansicht- Alles rot und dann dieser Aufsteller::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.:: - Emerald, 25.08.2003, 21:06
Alles rot und dann dieser Aufsteller::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.::
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Hope this will be of some interest for those holding Harmony shares. It´s been a slow haul lately so at least it is some news.
Ron S.
Continuous-mining coup for Harmony
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Mining companies Harmony Gold and ARMgold hogged the limelight when they announced in July that they were to merge into South Africa’s largest gold producer.
The groups are in the limelight again, following an agreement with labour to start continuous mining at their Freegold joint venture, in a development which will create 2 000 new jobs and increase production by 19% in less than a year.
Continuous mining has only been successfully implemented by ARMgold - which completes its merger with Harmony next month - and its introduction at Freegold comes about a year later than Harmony’s initial schedule.
Harmony CEO Bernard Swanepoel - who will assume the same position in the new Harmony, with ARMgold executive chairperson Patrice Mo-tsepe assuming the chairpersonship of the merged group, says the delay was a blessing in disguise, as they took advantage of it to do the necessary development to cope with the faster rate of extraction which continuous mining will entail.
Freegold comprises the Eland, Tshepang, Bambanani, Joel and St Helena mines and produced 381 kg of gold for the quarter to the end of June.
Swanepoel says that, in terms of the agreement with labour, mining will be undertaken seven days a week, except for public holidays, increasing the number of working days a year from 276 at present to well over 300. Additional working days will mean increased value creation, notes Swanepoel, who adds that the additional labour cost that continuous mining will entail will be far outweighed by the increased production.
In fact, ARMgold CEO Andre Wilkens says the remuneration of workers involved in actual mining will increase by about R300 a month as a result of continuous mining.
But the benefits, which will include increased mined volumes, a 3% reduction in rand mining costs and the lowering of cut-off grades, will offset the higher labour costs.
Swanepoel confirms that there is sufficient plant capacity to cope with increased mined volumes as a result of the new mining arrangement.
While Freegold and organised labour have reached agreement, it is early days yet to say if there will be no resistance to working on Saturdays and Sundays on religious grounds.
Meanwhile, the growth projects which Harmony and ARMgold have been working on are progressing well. The projects, which will be wholly-owned by the new Harmony, are the sinking of a decline at Tshepang North, the deepening of an existing shaft at Phakisa at a cost of R550-million and the extraction of a shaft pillar and the mining of previously-abandoned areas at the Nyala mine.
The Tshepang decline project started in March and is on course for completion by March 2004.
An amount of R106,8-million has been committed to the project, with R22,2-million having been spent to date. This project will involve mining an area containing about 1,3-million ounces at a rate of 49 000 t/month grading 8,7 g/t. This will add 167 000 oz to Freegold’s production, say Har-mony officials, adding that full pro-duction should be attained in 2007.
The Nyala project is planned to deliver about 500 000 oz over its estimated seven-year mine life. At full production, the shaft will produce 90 000 oz/y at a cost of R340/t.
These projects will, no doubt, boost the merged group’s ounces.
Harmony now also has an effective 26,1% stake in Avgold, which operates the Target gold-mine, in the northern Free State, with an estimated 3,9-million ounces of reserves and an extensive unexploited resource totalling 67-million ounces. At full production, the mine will produce 350 000 oz of gold a year at a cash cost of $180/oz. Its operating life is estimated to be more than 18 years.
Immediately adjacent to Target, Avgold has been busy with an extensive exploration programme on an area known as Target North, which contains measured and indicated resources of 24,5-million ounces and additional inferred resources of 35,1-million ounces.
Meanwhile, Harmony’s performance for the June quarter, the last before the merger with ARMgold takes effect, was affected by the lower rand gold price, with operating profits falling from R478-million to R183-million.
ARMgold’s operating income also fell by 26% to R144,5-million, despite a 4% increase in gold production to 7 966 kg.
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Published: 2003/08/22 Printer friendly:
B2B Coupon No: MW22-08-2003E39789
Author: Martin Zhuwakinyu
Portfolio: Contributing Editor
E-mail: newsdesk@engineeringnews.co.za
unquote:
HMY plus 1% as of the very moment.
Emerald.
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