Harmony Gold Mining / HMY (NYSE), HAR (SA) und Gold Fields / GFI

On the announcement of Dippenaar’s resignation Harmony CEO Bernard Swanepoel said:
"As sad as it is to lose one of our best, we are proud of Ferdi and know that he will make a great success of his new challenge.

We pride ourselves in Harmony on our people and Ferdi is truly export quality.

Bin ja gespannt welcher Affe als naechstes den Kafferladen uebernimmt.
Noch mehr schwarze unfaehige Direktoren so wie ich es sehe.
And the Game goes on.
Swanepoel und Dippenaar packen nun ihre Koffer uns sagen Bye-Bye RSA, der Job ist erledigt , es wurde gut bezahlt dafuer.

As far as I'm concern both can go to hell.

Mfg

XEX

Posted to the web on: 23 December 2005

Gold Fields cool as tension over Bolivar hots up

Rob Rose
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chief Reporter

FOLLOWING resistance to Gold Fields’ R2,2bn bid for Venezuelan gold company Bolivar, the South African gold company has given its strongest indication yet that it will not raise its offer.

With tensions rising as the January 12 deadline nears, Scion Capital which owns 19% of the Canadian-listed Bolivar, this week slammed Gold Fields’ bid as “opportunistic” and too cheap, and urged shareholders to reject the bid of C$3 a share.

Scion also hit at Bolivar management for recommending Gold Fields’ offer, saying that these executives are “self- serving” and riddled with conflicts of interest, as they would gain C$29m through this deal.

But yesterday, Gold Fields gave its strongest indication yet that if Scion is holding out for an increase, it is unlikely to get what it wants.

Gold Fields director John Munro said: “We have demonstrated a strong acquisition discipline, and it will remain the case. We have made an offer at C$3 a share, and we are proceeding on that basis.”

In a separate boost for Gold Fields yesterday, Bolivar CEO Serafino Iacono reaffirmed his support of Gold Fields’ offer, and lambasted Scion for trying to sway shareholder sentiment against it.

Iacono launched a broadside at Scion, saying the hedge fund was not “proposing any alternatives for the future”, and wants shareholders to lose out on “tangible value for intangible assumptions”.

“Scion Capital would prefer you to ignore the efforts and judgment of Bolivar’s board and management in spite of the extraordinary results they have delivered in an exceptionally difficult environment,” he said.

Iacono said: “We strongly believe that Gold Fields’ offer of cash at a premium to Bolivar’s share price is in the best interests of Bolivar’s shareholders.”

He said that Gold Fields’ offer was fair, as it represented a 384% return to investors since January 2003, and a 45% return since the end of last year. Gold Fields’ offer was also 40% higher than the average share price for the month before the offer, he said.

However, Scion said in its documents that the 40% was misleading because Bolivar’s shares had been trading significantly higher earlier until comments by Venezuelan President Huge Chavez knocked the share price.

“The reality is that the offer by Gold Fields does not truly provide Bolivar shareholders with a ‘premium’ for their shares. In March 2005, Bolivar common shares traded as high as C$2,97, and in September 2005 the shares traded as high as C$3,05,” Scion said.

However, Iacono said yesterday that “many of Bolivar’s institutional shareholders have already accepted the bid”. Some analysts have said that the C$3 offer is too high.

In terms of the deal, 66,6% of shareholders must accept Gold Fields offer for it to go through. Scion already holds 19,4% of Bolivar, and is seeking to get another 13% in proxies from other shareholders to sink Gold Fields’ offer.

Gold Fields also has an opinion from brokerage firm Sprott Securities, which says the deal is fair and reasonable for Bolivar shareholders. But Scion has accused Sprott of “institutional duplicity”.

“How can Sprott analyst David Stein raise his target price on Bolivar from C$3,65 to C$4 on November 15 only to have Sprott deliver a valuation on November 30th that the fair value of Bolivar is only C$2,65 to C$3,25 a share?” Scion says.

There has been movement in Bolivar’s shares since the offer. More than 60% of Bolivar’s 113-million shares have traded and the share price has vaulted to close to the bid level of C$3 a share.

Kommentar:
Bolivar Gold steht in Toronto schon seit Anfang Dezember bei rund
3 CAD. War also schon bekannt.

Posted to the web on: 03 January 2006

Canadian firm backs Gold Fields’ Bolivar bid

Charlotte Mathews
Resources Editor

GOLD Fields’ plans to take control of Venezuelan miner Bolivar Gold, which have come under fire from a major institutional shareholder, received a boost at the weekend as an independent proxy firm urged institutions to support the offer.
Gold mining companies, especially South African mining houses, are seeking new viable resources around the world as the gold price has risen to new peaks in the past few months.
For South African companies, there is particular urgency to look elsewhere because local resources are diminishing and the strength of the rand has put pressure on margins.
Independent proxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) Canada said on Friday its clients, which include US and global institutions, should vote in favour of Gold Fields’ C$3 a share buyout offer, Bolivar Gold said.
Bolivar Gold is a Toronto-listed gold mining company, whose main asset is the Choco 10 gold mine. The mine came on stream in August and is targeting production of 400000 ounces of gold a year.
Gold Fields tabled its offer, which values Bolivar Gold at about R2,2bn, in November. The offer price represents a 40% premium to the share’s trading price in the preceding 30 days.
But institutional shareholder Scion Capital, which has increased its stake in Bolivar to 19%, has said the offer was inadequate because the shares were above C$3 before political events in Venezuela hit the price.
On Friday Scion Capital continued to urge other Bolivar shareholders to vote against the offer. It said that, unlike ISS, it had spent considerable time and money visiting Bolivar Gold’s operations and meeting management, and believed it had a much better understanding of Bolivar Gold’s assets and prospects.
It said ISS’s valuation overestimated Bolivar Gold’s costs and ignored its tax shields.
Bolivar chairman and CEO Serafino Iacono said ISS Canada’s recommendation was consistent with the independent valuation by GMP Securities and Sprott Securities.
The meeting to vote on the offer will be held in Toronto next week. It requires a two-thirds majority of shareholders voting in favour of it.

Zeitlich hat´s nicht hingehauen, aber im Januar 2006 ist Tamboks Kurs-Prognose doch noch verspätet eingetroffen.

Im Dezemberquartal hat HAR nach langer Zeit wieder mal einen Gewinn geschrieben, immerhin 6 Randcent. Das gibt ein ordentliches KGV von über 400.

Die Cashkosten haben sich im Vergleich zum Vorquartal auch verbessert auf beachtenswerte 396 USD = 83154 Rd/Kg . Damit nur noch eine Haaresbreite von den angestrebten 69.000 Rd/kg entfernt.

Swanepoel: Our current frustration is not being able to string three good months together
The reality is that we have not completed three good months in a row yet.”
“However, even three good months in a row would not bring costs down to the targeted R69,000/kg. We are some way off that,” he said. [Blockierte Grafik: http://www.smiliemania.de/smilie132/00000116.gif]

Analyst Esterhuizen: “These results are very disappointing,”
“Shareholders are losing patience.”
"They said they’d fix operations in three to six months. But it's now taken three years and he still sits with the people not producing,” he said. [Blockierte Grafik: http://www.smiliemania.de/smilie132/00000285.gif]
http://www.miningmx.com/gold_silver/896016.htm

Nick Goodwin von T Sec: "Its gold profit margin is weak compared to outflows. The gold price needs to go to about $650 (per ounce) for the company to start turning things, and this is not likely to happen soon"

Beim Mineweb Artikel "The leverage factor" meint man fast, es werde DRD besprochen:
And yet, and yet …… the December quarter resulted in a net cash burn of R520.9 million.
As usual there is a great deal of future promise.
And there is more to come, perhaps,...
...then there had better be some prospect of dividends – in other words a gold price of way, way beyond R110,000/kg.

HAR war bei mir zum 3. mal durchgelaufen.

Jedesmal profitabel.

Zur zeit kein Stück mehr im Depot.

HAR mit DRD zu vergleichen ist Blasphemie.

Aber im Moment gibt es erfolgversprechenderes.


SIEGEL erzählt heute was zu HAR.

Seine Rede ist weder fleisch noch fisch.


gogh

Genau, Harmony ist einfach DRDGold zu viel teureren Preisen.

Ich mag ein harmonisches Leben, aber wenn ich an den Swanepoel & Dippenaar denke dann werde ich narrisch.
Uninteressant bei den Rand und Negerverein.
Die Aktie liegt auch bei Katja Ebstein im Depot.
Des waer vielleicht was fuern Bachalex .
Der mags ganz tief unten. :D...anstatt open pit.

Posted to the web on: 10 March 2006

Harmony acquires 29,2% stake in Western Areas

Reuters
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HARMONY Gold has bought a 29,2% stake in smaller rival Western Areas for around R1,99bn, the mining firm said on Friday.

Harmony said in a statement that the purchase, to be funded through R985m in cash and a R1,0bn loan facility provided by Rand Merchant Bank, will give it a strategic 14,6% stake in the South Deep gold mine.

The group said it bought 37,37 million shares from asset manager Allan Gray and a further 7,62 million shares on the market.

"We see this as a strategic exposure to one of the best ore bodies in the world and we look forward to working with the board of Western Areas on realising this assets’ full potential," Harmony’s Chief Executive Bernard Swanepoel said.

"The similarities in ore bodies and mining methods between the South Deep mine and our own Target mine, and the lessons we have learned at Target, gives us confidence in our valuation of Western Areas."

The South Deep gold mine is a 50/50 joint venture between Western Areas Limited and the world’s top gold producer, Canada’s Barrick Gold Corporation, which got the 50% stake from its recent takeover of Placer Dome.

It contains a reserve of 29,2 million ounces and a resource of 67 million ounces, which represents one of the biggest high quality gold ore bodies globally.

Mal ganz interessant, wie hoch die "Nebenkosten" so sind.
Kuddel

Posted to the web on: 15 March 2006

Harmony, DRDGold battle Mittal SA over steel prices

Reuters

HARMONY Gold and DRDGold today reignited a battle, launched more than two years ago, to persuade competition authorities to curb what they call Mittal SA’s excessive pricing of flat steel products.

Harmony and DRDGold accused Mittal at the Competition Tribunal of contravening competition law and abusing its market dominance by over-charging for steel products.

They say steel, heavily used in the infrastructure of deep mines, makes up 5-10% of their production costs.

They miners want Mittal SA to abandon a policy which they say is based on import parity pricing (IPP).

The two gold producers also accuse Mittal SA of inducing its customers not to deal with other steel making competitors.

"This is an entrenched firm with a dominant market position. It’s a company that is making excessive profits as a result of excessive pricing," lawyer David Unterhalter, appearing for Harmony at the Tribunal, said.

Mittal SA, a unit of Mittal Steel, denies the accusations. The firm is the top supplier of steel products to SA, including its key mining industry, and the top steel exporter.

"Mittal SA’s prices track international prices... that disputes efforts by Harmony to say that we are a rogue setter of prices," Chris Loxton, appearing for Mittal SA, said.

Loxton said Mittal SA had also moved away from the contentious IPP model it had used in the past, which has been criticised by its customers and by government.

This model attempts to approximate and match the price at which a foreign exporter would land its steel products in SA. It also adds on transport costs to the would-be customer.

Mittal SA said that instead of IPP, it now benchmarks its prices on the basis of the domestic prices of other comparable markets.

Mittal SA has been involved in confidential talks since late 2004 with the department of trade and industry, which wants the company to produce a new pricing model that would see prices fall to benefit local users.

Mittal SA has since made price cuts to some of its domestic products, saying these were in the spirit of the talks.

The latest round of hearings follow a similar action taken by Harmony and DRDGold against Mittal SA.

In January 2004, the Tribunal’s sister body, the Competition Commission, declined to declare Mittal SA’s pricing excessive as sought by Harmony.

The Tribunal will hear submissions until April 5 from witnesses lined up by Harmony and DRDGOLD, including officials from packaging firm Nampak, Toyota SA Motors, a branch of Toyota Motor Corp., SA’s Volkswagen as well as various steel sector experts.

Harmony schemes for Western Areas

By Stewart Bailey

Johannesburg - Western Areas might buy the three best gold mines of its largest shareholder, Harmony Gold Mining, as a first step to creating the world's seventh-largest producer, Harmony chief executive Bernard Swanepoel said yesterday.

Western Areas was investigating buying Harmony's Target, Tshepong and Phakisa mines, said Swanepoel, who is also a director of Western Areas. The company may also bid for the other half of the world's largest gold deposit, South Deep, which it jointly owns with Toronto-based Barrick Gold.

"They've engaged us formally on that," Swanepoel said yesterday. "Western Areas' endgame could be to merge the whole of South Deep into that company to create a South African company with high quality, long-life assets."

Swanepoel has presided over eight quarterly losses out of nine at Harmony and failed last year to buy larger rival Gold Fields. Selling his best assets in exchange for Western Areas stock to raise his 30 percent stake would give him control of potentially some of South Africa's most profitable and long-life mines at a time when producers are struggling to replenish reserves.

"I like it, the idea's a good one," said Wayne McCurrie of Advantage Asset Management. "Getting control of South Deep would certainly improve Harmony's overall profile."

Western Areas shares rose 2.6 percent to R39.50, while Harmony's gained 6.7 percent to R96 on the JSE yesterday. The gold mining sector was up 6.22 percent.

Western Areas was involved in "exploratory" talks about its future, including possible acquisitions, said chief executive Gill Marcus, without giving details. The company is being advised by Investec.

"We're looking at a number of options open to us and what will benefit our shareholders," Marcus said. "There are a range of issues, including the one which Bernard [Swanepoel] raises about Harmony's high quality assets."

Should it pursue that option, Western Areas management will need to persuade Gold Fields, which owns 15.5 percent of the company's stock, of its plan to cede control to Harmony. Gold Fields has proposed quicker development of South Deep's second phase from its neighbouring Kloof mine.

Barrick also has the right to buy the rest of South Deep if there is a change in control at Western Areas.

"Normal behaviour for a shareholder that doesn't agree with a strategy is to put their stake up for sale and that goes for us and for Gold Fields," Swanepoel said. "I'd be surprised if common sense doesn't prevail here and if a big shareholder, or a partner, is obstructive."

Gold Fields would "consider any proposal" put to it by Western Areas, said spokesperson Willie Jacobsz.

An enlarged Western Areas could produce as much as 2 million ounces a year within five years, Swanepoel said, with 1 million ounces from South Deep and the rest from Harmony's three mines.

Harmony left Western Areas' management to discuss its strategy with Barrick, he said.

The mines remaining in Harmony would have "good cash-generating ability and a good growth profile", Swanepoel said. - Bloomberg

Published on the web by Business Report on June 21, 2006.

Wer's glaubt wird selig.

Mal wieder absoluter Unsinn den Swanepoel da verzapft. Hin- und herverschieben von assets bringt keinen wirtschaftlichen Nutzen.

Gold Fields sollte sich mit Barrick zusammensetzen.

Barrick kauft dann Western Areas 50% Anteil an South Deep und verkauft 100% von South Deep weiter an Gold Fields. Gold Fields kann ja schon mal einen Teil mit Western Areas Aktien bezahlen.

Meinetwegen soll Harmony dann ihre "guten" Minen in Western Areas reinstecken, wird dann eben nur 1 mio ozs Produzent.

Das wäre sinnvoll. Von Kloof aus wird dann abgebaut. Sind ja nur 30 Jahre die man spart um an die Erze zu kommen.

Gold Fields wäre dann vor einer Anglo Übernahme einigermaßen sicher, hätte 4 mio ozs Produktion in SA + 1.5 mio ozs im Rest der Welt.

Barrick wäre South Deep los, glaubt jemand ernsthaft South Deep wäre in der Hand von Barrick jemals soviel wert wie bei Gold Fields? Bei Barrick befürchtet jeder das SA politische Risiko, Gold Fields ist ohnehin SA producer. Eventuell wäre sogar ein swap möglich, South Deep gegen internationale Minen.. Cerro Corona bietet sich z.B. an oder auch Arctic Platinum, Tarkwa wird Gold Fields wohl auf jeden fall behalten wollen.

Gruß
S.

eine Replik

Der Seligkeit nahe
===============


Es gibt handfeste Gründe aus Western Areas

den RSA Goldleuchtturm zu machen.


Es ist gleichermassen "wahr" zu sagen,

WAR habe 25 oder 50 oder 100 Mio AU-Unzen Resourcen.

WAR ist Betriebsfüher in South Deep. Barrick erzielt

de facto nur eine Geldrente. Kein Barrick Manager

würde sich auch nur zu einer Besichtigung auf

sie unterste Sohle begeben.

Und die abgestürzte Lohre

zeigt Barrick, dass es nur Geldrente gibt, wenn WAR das will.


Nicht dass ich wüsste wie das ausgeht. Aber WAR

spielt bei diesem Schach die weisse u n d die schwarze Dame.


gruss

gogh

Hätte Swanepoel den Deal mit GoldFields über die Bühne gebracht, wäre er heute der "King". Viel gefehlt hatte ja nicht. Aber mit den Russen Geschäfte zu machen, hat er sich wahrscheinlich auch anders vorgestellt.

Gruß Kuddel

aber nicht Harmony.

Harmony left in the shade
Posted: 23 Jul 2006 - | South African gold companies are making hay while the sun shines, but not Harmony.

David McKay
Posted: Sun, 23 Jul 2006

[miningmx.com] -- THERE’S MANY A REASON to be cheerful if you’re a gold producer in South Africa.

The June quarter results for the sector, starting with AngloGold Ashanti on 27 July, are likely to show the benefits of a 19% increase in the rand gold price. That’s a massive leap in the revenue line in just three months.

Sadly, very sadly, the company best positioned to benefit from this environment – Harmony Gold – will continue to bleed.

Estimates are that cash costs at Harmony are likely to remain high: at R92 000/kg compared to an estimated R62 000/kg at AngloGold Ashanti. Moreover, Harmony will be hit by a R150m loss on its Australian hedge book and a book loss on its 29% stake in Western Areas, which it bought for about R2bn earlier this year.

Though Harmony invested in youth about two years ago at the mine management level, the strategy doesn’t appear to have paid off. More than 90% of Harmony’s mines are exposed to SA, which is experiencing record revenue figures.

There’s great pathos in its inability to participate, notwithstanding an 18-month restructuring programme in which more than 10 000 of its workers were retrenched.

OPPORTUNITIES

* The US dollar gold price improves and/or the rand exchange rate against it weakens considerably so that even Harmony starts to look in fine fettle.

* The possibility of corporate action could add some spice to the share. That would be if it succeeds in a bid to reverse its high quality mines into Western Areas and/or splits its assets between high and low quality into two separately listed companies.

RISKS

* The gold price comes off or the rand strengthens. These options are more likely than unchecked gold price appreciation.

* CEO Bernard Swanepoel has lost the plot and the heart to continue driving the company forward. He either quits (unlikely) or Harmony’s downward spiral continues indefinitely.
http://www.miningmx.com/gold_silver/748899.htm

Zahlen des Juniquartals am 7. August.

Wie geht es mit Harmony weiter ?
Da sind sich auch die Analysten nicht sicher.
Siehe nachstehenden Artikel von heute.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted to the web on: 08 August 2006

Swanepoel battles to put shine back into Harmony

Rob Rose
Chief Reporter

HARMONY Gold CEO Bernard Swanepoel spent hours yesterday telling investors why the company’s prospects were shining brighter, but it was hard to ignore the fact that the world’s sixth-largest gold miner slumped to yet another loss despite a sky-high gold price.

What makes Harmony’s results for the June quarter worrying was that it posted a R41m loss at a time when a rampant gold price meant it was selling gold for R131358/kg — a price 47% higher than the R89711/kg it sold gold for a year ago.

The market was not impressed, as Harmony shed nearly R2bn of its R40bn market value with the share price plunging 5% on the JSE.

Swanepoel spoke of “restoring Harmony’s credibility” yesterday to a hall of analysts sceptical with Harmony’s costs inching up while the grade of gold it is getting from the ground is dropping.

Once the darling of investors for taking marginal mines and making them profitable, Swanepoel has found his credibility somewhat tarnished in recent years as he was unable to deliver on his promises to swing Harmony back into profit. While there were some analysts yesterday who remarked that Harmony “may have reached a turning point”, there were others who asked if Harmony could ever translate its “Harmony way” of gold mining into profits.

Investec Securities analyst Leon Esterhuizen said there were still “very serious issues” at Harmony.

“It’s a screaming indictment that with a rand-gold price at these exceptional levels, Harmony has still not managed to turn a profit,” he said.

The 40% rise in the gold price in the past year, and a weakening of the rand against the dollar meant Harmony got more money for the gold it sold.

Esterhuizen said that even though Harmony ramped up production 6% in the past three months “the grade of gold it mines seems to have collapsed”.

The grade in Harmony’s South African underground mines dropped 9% to 4,70 grams of gold a ton mined, compared with the grade it was getting last year. When Harmony’s Australian operations were included in the figure, the grade dropped to 3,48 grams a ton.

This meant Harmony pulled more rock out of the ground for less reward, and the amount it had to spend to get a kilogram of gold rose 1% to R93968.

“If Harmony was still getting good grades out of the ground with these kind of volumes, then these results would have been exceptional. But it isn’t the case,” said Esterhuizen.

Mandla Mapondera, an analyst at Old Mutual Asset Managers, described the results as “very disappointing”, primarily because of the fall-off in the grade of gold mined.

But even though Harmony had a R41m loss, this was a better performance than previously. This time it had a R343m operating profit, compared with the R136m operating loss in the previous June quarter.

Harmony was perhaps unlucky to be hit by unusual factors. These included an unusually large R317m in deferred tax, while it also took a R105m hit on its bottom line because it had to include its share of losses at Western Areas, of which it owns 29%.

Another analyst said the results indicated that Harmony might have “turned a corner”, which could soon see it make an profit, “depending on your view of the gold price”.

Swanepoel conceded that “we are still below where we want to be”, and the company was “operating on perhaps three out of four cylinders. We can regain our operational credibility not by talking, but by delivering,” he said.

als Erinnerungsposten hochgeholt.


Rand relativ schwach.


Beide sind auf unterschiedliche Weise in South Deep verbandelt.

Erfahrungsgemaess war 10€ oft ein guter Einstiegspunkt für HAR.

Die Übernahme von South Deep ist für Goldfields sicher kein Fehler.


Auf das Radar mit beiden.

Gogh

Western Areas Kurs müßte bei 73 liegen wenn man das Barrick Angebot überträgt, leider aber ca. 20 Hedge-Schulden pro Aktie.

Was ist eigentlich, wenn der Goldpreis einbricht? Sagen wir mal wirklich $100 tiefer. Dann wäre das Hedge-Book je wesentlich weniger in den roten Zahlen. Gleichzeitig würde der GFI Kurs fallen.

Und Barrick ist auch mehr an einem schwachen GFI Kurs interessiert. Ca. 400 mio kriegen die doch in Aktien. Warum soll ich mir die Aktien ans Bein binden und dann billiger abverkaufen? Ich würde die Aktien schon im voraus leerverkaufen. Da habe ich einen höheren Verkaufskurs. Aufgrund des gedrückten Kurses erhalte ich dann mehr GFI Aktien und covere einfach meine Shortposition. Den Überbestand an Aktien kann man dann kostenlos halten oder auch verkaufen. Ob Barrick sowas macht? Dürfen wohl nicht. Anreiz über 3 Ecken ist jedenfalls da.

Für GFI bin ich gar nicht so positiv gestimmt.

Harmony ist sowieso Käse, was haben die überhaupt noch an guten assets?

Gruß
S.

"Harmony ist sowieso Käse, was haben die überhaupt noch an guten assets?"


Es gibt einige gute Assets in Austral/Pacific, sogar etwas in RSA.


Hier und heute geht es aber um die Luschen in RSA.

Rand schwach, Oil billiger und konstanter PoG. Dann wird HAR "hot".


Gogh

Aber nur kurzfristig. Irgendwo kommt die nächste Krise, der nächste Einbruch beim Goldpreis oder das nächste Problem mit Schacht xyz. Längerfristig lohnen sich niedrigere Kosten immer. Hat doch das Beispiel Goldcorp gezeigt. Nach Hebel usw. müßten ja DRDGold, Apollo Gold und wie sie nicht alle heißen die top Performer gewesen sein.

Aber wenn du auf sowas wie DRDGold 2001/02 spekulierst.. könnte was werden.

Gruß
S.

GFI hat nun 34.7% Anteile von Western Area.

Shareholders are referred to the announcements on 11 September 2006 and 27
October 2006 in terms of which shareholders were informed of:
1) the agreement with JCI Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively
"JCI") in terms of which Gold Fields will acquire 27 million Western
Areas shares owned by JCI which would result in Gold Fields owning 34.7% of the issued share capital of Western Areas ("the JCI
Transaction").

In addition, JCI has granted Gold Fields a call option
and JCI has been granted a put option in respect of the balance of a
further 9.96 million Western Areas shares held by JCI for a 90-day
period after implementation of the JCI Transaction. Should the call or
put options be exercised by either party, Gold Fields" interest in
Western Areas would increase to approximately 41% of the issued share
capital of Western Areas.
2) Gold Fields" intention to acquire the entire issued share capital of
Western Areas Limited (other than those shares already owned by Gold
Fields and JCI) by way of a general offer in terms of section 440 et
seq of the Companies Act ("the Offer"); and
3) the agreement with Barrick Gold Corporation ("Barrick") to purchase,
through the acquisition of a subsidiary company of Barrick, its 50%
interest in South Deep Gold Mine ("South Deep") ("the Barrick
Transaction").
The JCI Transaction was subject to the approval of shareholders in
general meeting. The meeting of shareholders was held on Tuesday 14
November 2006 and the requisite approval was obtained. The
consideration payable to JCI was settled on Thursday 16 November 2006.
The only remaining condition precedent for the implementation of the
Offer and the Barrick Transaction is approval of the Competition
Tribunal. Shareholders are now advised that the Competition Tribunal
has today approved the Offer and the Barrick Transaction and that all
the conditions precedent to the implementation of the transactions
have now been fulfilled.
Acceptance and Settlement of the Offer
Western Areas shareholders can accept the Offer by tendering their
Western Areas shares with their respective CSDP as set out in the
Offer document posted to shareholders on 30 October 2006.
Shareholders who have already accepted the Offer will be settled
within 5 business days of the date of this announcement. Those
shareholders who still wish to accept the Offer will be settled within
5 business days of acceptance of the Offer. The Offer will remain
open until the closing date, which date will be announced by Gold
Fields on SENS and published in the press, together with the final
salient dates and times.
22 November 2006
Sponsor
JPMorgan