Gold Fields announced that Michael Fraser would become CEO and an executive director of the group from January 1, 2024.
The announcement was marked by a 4.18% surge in the share price to R224.70 yesterday afternoon.
Fraser succeeds Martin Preece, who was Interim CEO and executive director of the gold mining company since January 1, 2023.
Gold Fields’ share price surge, however, was in line with a sharp 5.15% gain in the FTSE/JSE Precious Metals and Mining Index on the JSE yesterday afternoon.
Conflict in the Middle East lifted oil, gold and safe-haven government bonds yesterday, Reuters reported. On the JSE other gold counters such as AngloGold Ashanti traded 5.67% higher, Sasol was 5.79% higher while fellow gold miner Harmony’s share price surged 7.1% to R78.39.
Gold Field’s share price has increased 48% over a year.
Gold Fields said Fraser was a mining industry executive with extensive experience. He is currently CEO of AIM-listed Chaarat Gold Holdings, and prior to that he was with South32 as COO of its global Aluminium, Nickel, SA Manganese and Energy Coal businesses.
He was also previously an executive with BHP, as Chief Human Resources Officer and President of Mozal Aluminium in Mozambique.
Gold Fields chairman, Yunus Suleman said Fraser brought, “a rich and unique mix of global operational and corporate experience and his track record of collaboration in delivering superior results in productivity, safety and culture ideally place him to lead our management team in taking our business forward.”
For a smooth leadership transition, Preece would continue as interim CEO until December 31, 2023. He will remain with the company as part of its executive management team after that.
In the six months to June 30, Gold Fields increased its interim dividend to 325 cents per share from 300 cents the previous year. This after its normalised earnings for the six months fell by 9% year-on-year to $454 million (R8.8 billion), or $0.51 per share. The balance sheet remained strong. Free cash flow of $140m was generated in the six months after taking into account all costs and project capital expenditure, compared with $293m in the first half of the 2022 financial year.
BUSINESS REPORT