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Gold Fields might sell smaller mines after Osisko acquisition

Gold Fields might search for buyers for its smaller mines in Ghana and Peru to focus on bigger operations and is hoping to make new mineral discoveries at both mines to boost their appeal, CEO Mike Fraser stated on Thursday.

Gold Fields shares were down 4% at 0842 GMT.

The Johannesburg-based gold miner is shifting focus to advancing its new Salares Norte mine in Chile also projects belonging to Osisko Mining, which it recently bought for about $ 1.6 billion. Gold Fields could possibly sell its Damang mine in Ghana where it is only processing stockpiled ore after stopping mining operations in 2015, Fraser said.

The miner might likewise look for purchasers for its Cerro Corona mine in Peru - which has actually 5 years left on its life-span - the CEO added.

Gold Fields is studying the capacity for new mineral discoveries at both mines to help draw in buyers, he said.

We do want to set it up in such a way that, if we keep it, we understand we have opened the value, Fraser informed Reuters. If we choose to sell it to somebody else, we would have offered it with an ingrained alternative for life extension.

Gold output at Damang, which has actually been mined given that 1997, fell 11% to about 33,000 ounces in the three months to September, the company said. The Peru mine produced 20,800 ounces compared to 16,800 ounces the previous quarter.

Gold Fields' output rose 12% to 510,000 ounces in the September quarter and the business preserved its production for the year at about 2.1 million ounces.

The ramp up at Salares Norte resumed towards the end of the last quarter after being disrupted by severe weather condition and the new mine is expected to produce as much as 50,000 ounces this year, with output potentially rising to 375,000 ounces in 2025.

A plan to combine Gold Fields' Tarkwa and AngloGold Ashanti's. Iduapriem mines in Ghana, to help cut costs, has been kept back. by a parliamentary recess as the west African country holds. elections on Dec. 7.

Due to the election we simply lacked time, Fraser said.

(source: Reuters)