Commodity Online
JOHANNESBURG : South Africa’s second largest gold producer, Gold Fields on Friday said gold output till end of fourth quarter is likely to rose by 4 percent ahead of its previous guidance at 905,000 ounces.

In a statement issued on the stock exchange here the company said, "This is solely due to converting at a much stronger rand/US dollar exchange rate,"

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But total cash cost and notional cash expenditure (NCE) for the group were expected to be slightly higher than guidance at about $525 per ounce and $750 per ounce.

Attributable fourth-quarter F2009 production from the South African mines is expected to increase by about 2 percent to approximately 16,400kg, compared with 16,088kg achieved in the third quarter of fiscal 2009.

During the quarter production at both Driefontein and Kloof were impacted by increased levels of seismicity resulting in safety-related production interruptions.

The company said both South Deep and Beatrix showed improved performances during the quarter, with South Deep now having positioned itself well for increased production during 2010, and Beatrix starting to recover from the mining quality issues that plagued it during the second and third quarters of 2009.

Attributable fourth-quarter 2009 production from the international mines is expected to increase by about 6 percent to approximately 377,000oz, compared with 354,000oz achieved in third-quarter 2009.