Harmony kicks off year on good note

Harmony Gold has kicked off its 2017 financial year on a good note, reporting increased production, stronger cash flows and the payment of a shareholder dividend.

All these follow the spike in revenue by 16 percent to $374 million (K1.1 billion), compared to the previous quarter.

According to mining.com, the world’s fifth largest producer of minerals halved its net debt from US$74 million to US$38 million, after paying a dividend of US$16 million, and has raised the prospect it could be debt-free by the beginning of the 2017 calendar year.

Harmony highlighted the recent acquisition of the Hidden Valley Mine in Morobe, PNG, supported the company’s strategy to grow and improve output quality.

The company has also submitted a special mining lease application in support of the Golpu project, also in Morobe.

After losing money for three years to 2015, Harmony focused this past year on finding assets able to offset the loss. As a result, the company plans to build a $2.6 billion (K7.78 billion) mine on Golpu, which should help it reduce costs as well as boost production and reserves.

This follows a disastrous three years of falling production at its South African mine.

Harmony Gold has set a goal to increase production to 1.5 million ounces over the next three years and said it was on track to achieve its annual production guidance of 1.05 million ounces.

Picture credit: mining.com

Author: 
Cedric Patjole