Gold Fields is spending capital on accelerating mine development and exploration drilling at the company’s St Ives and Agnew mines.

Gold Fields’ new Australia acting head, Mark Zeptner, tells Mining Weekly that, by the 
middle of the year, the mines are 
expected to have built up reserves equal to five years of mining.

Gold Fields is expecting to build up gold production in the Australasian region to 150 000 oz a quarter by the end of the current March quarter and to position the operations to go beyond that in the June quarter.

The plan is to get back up to the 100 000-oz-a-quarter mark from St Ives in the March quarter and lower cash costs by $100/oz on the September quarter figure and continue to produce at a rate of 50 000 oz a quarter at Agnew.

The lower cash costs are expected to be achieved byimproving the grade at St Ives Argo mine to 6 g/t, from 4 g/t.

Development is being fast-tracked to 400 m a month at the St Ives’ Athena project and full production is expected at the start of 2012.

The new Argo-Athena Camp project is seen as one of the most significant in West Australia with potential for both openpit and underground mines.

Zeptner believes that the area of Argo, Apollo, Athena, Hamlet and Yorick can host up to four-million ounces and could add incremental ounces to St Ives to enable it to move from 420 000 oz/y to 500 000 oz/y.

Agnew is expected to continue 
to be a steady producer at 
48 000 oz a quarter, at cash costs of A$560/oz and at a notional cash expenditure of A$850/oz.

The plan is to turn both St Ives and Agnew into long-life mines.

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