Gold Fields says it is considering all options, including the courts, in its discussions with the Ghanaian authorities about the renewal of its lease for the Tarkwa mine, which expires in about eight months.
Gold Fields, listed on the JSE and NYSE, filed its application to renew the Tarkwa mining rights, which expire in April next year, in November last year.
Speaking following the release of the group’s financial results for the six months ended June 2026, CEO Mike Fraser said the group was open to all ways of ensuring it received “fair and equitable treatment for these lease renewals”.
“All that we’re saying is, ‘Please treat us fairly in line with what the law establishes, and that we will be considered fairly and reasonably,’” he said.
Fraser said a negotiated outcome rather than litigation would be the desired outcome.
“Clearly that’s not our preferred path, and we remain hopeful that the engagements that we’re having will bear fruit and there will be a sensible consideration of our application,” said Fraser.
In its application Gold Fields made investment proposals for the mine in Ghana and the strengthening of partnerships through value sharing. However, the group said the Accra government had yet to respond. It flagged that an adverse outcome would have a material and adverse impact on its operations.
Fraser said Gold Fields has been operating in Ghana for the past 30 years and delivered value to the people of Ghana, the communities around Tarkwa and stakeholders.
The gold sector is an important driver of the Ghanaian economy, accounting for nearly two-thirds of foreign exchange thanks to the sustained high price of gold, said Fraser.
The silence from Ghana on the lease renewal application comes amid unhappiness in that country over anti-migrant campaigns in South Africa. Fraser said the anti-migrant sentiment had “created a lot of noise in Ghana”.
“Ultimately we are an African miner, we have been operating in the continent for many decades, and we think that there should be more that keeps us together than things that pull us apart. Hopefully we can look through these short-term challenges and find ways where we can work together to grow our mutual prosperity, is the way that I’d like to think about it,” he said.
There should be more that keeps us together than things that pull us apart
— Mike Fraser
Gold Fields, which late last year set out an ambitious five-year growth plan, has benefited from the surge in the gold price. In the period under review, the group recorded a 134% increase in adjusted free cash flow while headline earnings jumped 81% to $1.85bn (R30bn).
Gold Fields reported an average realised gold price of $4,678/oz for the period, up from $3,089/oz a year earlier. Shareholders smiled all the way to the bank as the group declared a R16.25 per share final dividend, up from R7 a year earlier.
Total government royalties in the countries where it operates were up 56% at $139m, against $89m a year earlier.
Fraser said tax payments did not always find their way back to the communities where mines operated, “so there is an additional burden on mining companies to provide some of those social contributions within those communities”. Mining companies had to do some heavy lifting in trying to close the gaps.
The group operates the South Deep mine in Westonaria, where service delivery and high unemployment, particularly among the youth, are problems. “The social needs are really high,” he said. The company was partnering with the departments of basic education and of mineral & petroleum resources in addressing grass-roots issues.
The point was echoed last week by DRDGold CEO Niël Pretorius, who said that tax revenues from the gold price bonanza were not reaching the communities where the group operates.
Gold Fields’ group production for the period under review rose 12% year on year, with a standout performance from Salares Norte, in Chile’s Atacama desert, where production surged 144%.
At South Deep production fell 1%. Fraser said a five-year wage agreement signed with unions at South Deep set the mine up well for stability for the next five years. For the first time in many years South Deep began exploration drilling.
“South Deep is a really valuable long-term asset in this portfolio, and certainly the combination of improved operating performance and studies around what we can do to set that asset up for future growth bodes very well for not just [company] shareholders but for everyone in South Africa that benefits from the performance out of that asset,” he said.
