Gold Fields Forced Back to the Drawing Board on South Deep
- Miner may cut 1,100 employees, 460 contractors at South Deep
- Operation has lost 4 billion rand over five years: Gold Fields
The South Deep mine
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
After years of losses and failed turnarounds, Gold Fields Ltd. is having to come up with another plan to save its massive South Deep mine. Its shares plunged.
The Johannesburg-based company may cut about 1,560 employees and contractors at the operation, its only one left in South Africa, and refocus the mine plan to reduce activity and lower costs. South Deep is the world’s second-biggest known body of gold-bearing ore and has the potential to produce for 70 years, yet more than a decade of poor performance has weighed on the company.