4
Results for the first quarter
ended 30 September 2013
Chief executive officer’s review
Despite short-term gold price volatility, long-term fundamentals remain
in place for continued growth in commodity demand. Since the financial
crash of 2008, investment demand has been among the gold market’s
principal drivers. The R/kg gold price has been static in the past two
quarters and we are expecting this trend to continue in the short term.
As gold prices have weakened, gold mines world-wide remain under
pressure with their rising costs. Our only means of remaining profitable
is to reduce costs, improve our productivity and produce more gold. We
believe that Harmony is well placed to meet these challenges.
We have been an acquisitive company, known for reinvesting in our
assets to improve their performance. Our strategic advantages include:
· increasing gold grades
· lowest rand/tonne South African producer
· free cash flow
· unhedged
· strong balance sheet – low debt
· geared to SA currency – 93% of our gold is mined in South Africa
1. SAFETY
The South African operations experienced a challenging safety quarter
with a regression in safety performance.
It is with deep regret that I report that four people were fatality injured
in four separate incidences. They were Tiodosio Munguambe (a team
leader) and Mr Carlitos Uetela (development team member) – both
from Doornkop; and Thembekile Mapeyi (development team member)
and Oscar Madosi (an engineering assistant) both from Kusasalethu.
My sincere condolences go to the families, friends and colleagues of
these men.
Safety risk management is one of the main pillars in the Harmony safety
strategy and is the main building block in the journey towards proactive
safety management and ultimately to zero harm. Management and
employees play an equally important role in the effective functioning
of the safety risk management system and specifically with regards
to issue-based risk management and continuous risk management.
During the past quarter management has paid a lot of attention to
poor performing operations. In addition, all baseline risk assessments
are currently part of a review process.
Due to the fatalities reported, the Fatality Injury Frequency Rate (FIFR)
per million hours worked regressed year on year from 0.11 to 0.19 and
quarter on quarter from 0.10 to 0.19.
During the quarter, the chief executive officer and various other
executives continued high level safety audits at the operations.
Significant safety achievements during the quarter were:
· Unisel recorded 12 months of being fatality free
· Tshepong achieved more than 3 000 000 rail bound equipment
fatality free shifts
· Tshepong achieved 2 000 000 fall of ground fatality free shifts
· Doornkop achieved 6 500 000 fall of ground fatality free shifts
2. OPERATIONAL RESULTS
Gold production for the September 2013 quarter increased by 12% to
9 635kg from 8 588kg in the June 2013 quarter. This was as a result
of improved recovered grades at most of the underground operations
and Kusasalethu building up to normal production after the temporary
closure of the shaft earlier this year.
Operations that showed an improvement during the September 2013
quarter were Kusasalethu, Tshepong, Target 1, Phakisa, Hidden Valley
and Unisel.
The 12% increase in production resulted in a significant increase in
operating profit of 55% for the September 2013 quarter, increasing
from R671 million in the June 2013 quarter to R1 037 million in the
September 2013 quarter.
The rand gold price received remained steady with only a 0.4% increase
to R429 566/kg (R427 534/kg in the June 2013 quarter). Quarter on
quarter the US dollar gold price decreased by 5% from US$1 407/oz
in the June 2013 quarter to US$1 342/oz in the September quarter.
The rand/dollar exchange rate weakened by 5% from R9.45/US$ in the
previous quarter to R9.96/US$ in the September 2013 quarter.
Cash operating costs in the September 2013 quarter increased by
R140 million compared to the June 2013 quarter. This was mainly as
a result of a R38 million increase in wages (due to the annual wage
increase), as well as a R147 million increase in electricity costs (due
to winter tariffs). These increases in costs were partially offset by a
R57 million saving at Hidden Valley.
Due to the increase in gold produced for the September 2013 quarter
the rand per kilogram (cash cost) decreased by 7% from R347 456/kg
in the June 2013 quarter to R324 272/kg in the quarter under review.
Total capital expenditure for the September 2013 quarter decreased
by R183 million or 23% quarter on quarter to R622 million. Most
operations recorded a decrease in capital expenditure with a major
saving of R89 million at Hidden Valley.
3. FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
Revenue
Revenue improved from R3 483 million in the previous quarter to
R4 018 million, driven by a 15% increase in gold sales and stable gold
prices in rand terms at R429 566/kg.
Restructuring costs
Restructuring and employment termination costs of R94 million were
recorded in the current quarter which should result in more long-term
savings going forward.
Exploration costs
Due to the repositioning of the Wafi-Golpu project and other cost-
saving initiatives in respect of the project, total exploration expenditure
decreased from R219 million to R142 million for the quarter.
Gain on financial instruments
The gain on financial instruments is due to the increase in fair value
of the investments in the various group rehabilitation trust funds.
A portion of these funds is invested in Equity Linked Deposits, which
increased in value as the market rose. These gains can be attributed
to an increase in the JSE shareholder weighted top 40 index (SWIX 40)
during the quarter.
Property, plant and equipment
Mining assets have decreased during the quarter as the Papua New
Guinean currency (PGK) depreciated against all currencies towards the
end of the quarter. Against the rand, it weakened from R4.49/PGK to
R3.87/PGK resulting in lower rand equivalent balances reported on the
balance sheet.