South African mining company
Gold Fields Limited |
| Company type | Public |
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| JSE: GFI
NYSE: GFI |
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| Industry | Gold mining |
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| Founded | 1887 (as Gold Fields of South Africa)
1998 (merger with Gencor) |
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| Headquarters | Johannesburg, South Africa |
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Number of locations | South Africa (one mine), Ghana (two mines), Australia (four mines), Peru (one mine) |
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Key people | Cheryl Carolus, Chairperson[1]
Chris Griffith, CEO
Paul Schmidt, CFO |
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| Products | Gold |
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| Revenue | $ 2.578 billion (FY 2018)[2] |
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| $ -344 million (FY 2018)[2] |
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Number of employees | 17,611 (FY 2018)[3] |
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| Website | www.goldfields.com |
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Gold Fields Limited (formerly The Gold Fields of South Africa) is one of the world's largest gold mining firms. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company is listed on both the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The firm was formed in 1998 with the amalgamation of the gold assets of Gold Fields of South Africa Limited and Gencor Limited. The company traces its roots back to 1887, when Cecil Rhodes founded Gold Fields of South Africa Limited. As of 2019, Gold Field was the world's eighth-largest producer of gold.[4]
The company owns and operates mines in South Africa, Ghana, Australia and Peru. Growth efforts are focused mainly in the regions where it currently operates, and are mainly driven through brownfields exploration on its existing land positions and through mergers and acquisitions in the same regions.
Gold Fields' chairperson is Cheryl Carolus, and the CEO is Chris Griffith.
Operations
Australia
- All the mines are located in Western Australia
Ghana
- 4 km west of the town of Tarkwa
- 30 km north of the neighbouring Tarkwa Gold Mine
- 45% of the Asanko Gold Mine
Peru
- The Cerro Corona Mine in Peru is in the highest part of the western Cordillera of the Andes Mountains in the north of the country.
South Africa
In 2012, Gold Fields Limited unbundled its subsidiary, GFI Mining South Africa Proprietary Limited ("GFIMSA"), which was then renamed Sibanye Gold Limited ("Sibanye Gold"), and consisted of the KDC (formerly Kloof) and Beatrix mines, as well as an array of support service entities in South Africa.[7][8] The three mines transferred from Gold Fields to Sibanye, later Sibanye-Stillwater, were:
- Beatrix gold mine
- Kloof gold mine
- Driefontein gold mine
Environment
In October 2001 a tailings dam ruptured at the company's Tarkwa Gold Mine in Ghana resulting in thousands of cubic metres of mine waste water spilling into the Asuman River and resulting in the death of significant marine life.[9] While acknowledging the cyanide spill the company stated at the time that the spill did not affect human health or safety.[10]
A further incident occurred in 2003 when water from an abandoned underground mine shaft, again at the company's Tarkwa Gold Mine, was identified as having seeped into the Asuman River sparking further fears of contamination.[11]
In July 2012 the company was directed by the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency to halt a gold-recovery plant at the Tarkwa Gold Mine because water discharged from the site required additional treatment.[12]
