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Tuesday, 28th August 2007 (2674 views)

Increasing gold production and reducing costs have been labelled as the "major challenges ahead" for South Africa-based mining company Harmony.

The comments, from acting chief executive Graham Briggs, follow the firm's results announcement for the quarter and year ending June 2007, which reflected improvements in US dollar and South African rand headline earnings per share.

A 43 South African cent (3p) headline earning per share was noted for the 2007 financial year, following a 2006 loss of 269 South African cents per share for the 2006 financial year. In US dollars, a six cents per share profit was seen in 2007, compared with a 42 cents per share loss 12 months earlier.

"Our back to basics approach and focus on disciplined mining should have the management and workforce concentrate on reversing the direction of the downward trend of our production and the upward trend in our cost graphs," Mr Briggs said.

The firm's new strategy will help it realise its "full potential", the acting chief executive added.

Operating profit decreased quarter-on-quarter by 39 million rand, while grades at South African underground operations fell to 4.76g/t.

Harmony is the fifth-largest gold producer in the world, according to the company's website.

 

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