South Africa鈥檚 Harmony Gold聽(JSE: HAR) (NYSE: HMY) is mulling the acquisition of new assets to sustain growth and replace capacity currently coming from its Masimong and Unisel mines, which are running out of ore.聽
Delivering , the company鈥檚 chief executive officer, Peter Steenkamp, said that South Africa remained its main investment target, even as its gold industry is facing mounting challenges, including geological and safety aspects of extracting ore from the world鈥檚 deepest mines.
鈥淗armony will be operating in South Africa for a very long time,鈥� Steenkamp said . 鈥淲e are not against any investment in the country, provided it matches our criteria and we can make money out of it.鈥�
Steenkamp revealed that the Mponeng mine, AngloGold Ashanti鈥檚 (NYSE: AU) (JSE: ANG) last underground operation in South Africa, was among the many projects the company was looking at.
CEO Peter Steenkamp said that South Africa remained Harmony鈥檚 main investment target, even as its gold industry is facing mounting challenges
The Randfontein-based miner also said it would delay and revise its planned work at its Papua New Guinea Wafi-Golpu mine, a joint venture with Australia鈥檚 Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM).
Permitting of the $5.4-billion gold and copper project聽has been stalled since May, when Papua New Guinea elected new Prime Minister James Marate. Since assuming the post, the former finance minister has downplayed his nation鈥檚 vast mineral wealth, declaring that the country鈥檚 economic future lies in becoming the food bowl of Asia, and not in being a source of raw minerals.
In the latest indication of PNG鈥檚 intention of 鈥渢aking back鈥� its mineral resources, the government said on Monday it wanted a larger share of the Porgera gold mine as part of lease-renewal talks, diluting the ownership of partners Barrick Gold and Zijin Mining.
In terms of results, Harmony鈥檚 total gold output jumped 17%, which resulted in an R6.5 billion (about $420 million) production profit. The purchase of Moab Khotsong from AngloGold Ashanti and the reopening of Hidden Valley mine in PNG generated R1.35 billion (roughly $88 million) of Harmony鈥檚 operating cash flow.
The company has not declared a dividend since 2017.