South African miner Gold Fields (JSE, NYSE: GFI), announced on Wednesday that its headline earnings per share for the full-year 2020 are expected to surge 305% to 325% compared to the full-year 2019, due to strong gold prices and slightly higher production. This surge is despite the group’s hedging policy.
Improved numbers compared to 2019
GFI announced that headline earnings per share of between 81 and 85 US cents are anticipated to be reported for the 12 months ended December 31. This is US$0.61-0.65 per share higher than the headline earnings of US$0.20 per share achieved in the 2019 financial year.
The company reported that it foresees US$0.80-0.84 per share basic earnings per share for 2020, which is US$0.60-0.64 per share (300%-320%) higher than 2019’s basic earnings of US$0.20 per share.
2.24 million ounces production in 2020
The company announced that the attributable gold production for 2020 is anticipated to be a total of 2.236 million ounces, which translates to a 2% increase compared to 2.195 million ounces of 2019. These are within revised guidance of 2.2 to 2.25 million ounces.
The original guidance of 2.28 to 2.32 million oz was revised in May to account for the impact of Covid- 19 on the operations, especially at South Deep in South Africa and Cerro Corona in Peru.
The globally diversified gold producer has total attributable annual gold-equivalent production of 2.2Moz, attributable gold-equivalent mineral reserves of 51.3Moz, and mineral resources of 115.7Moz.
AISC costs
GFI said that All-in sustaining costs (AISC) for the year is expected to be US$977/oz compared to US$897/oz last year. This is within the revised guidance range for AISC between US$960/oz and US$980/oz.
