Name of the Project
Salares Norte gold project.

Location
Atacama region, northern Chile.

Project Owner/s
Minera Gold Fields Salares Norte Ltda (MGFSNL), in which Gold Fields indirectly holds a 100% interest.

Project Description
Salares Norte is proposed as an openpit mining operation using conventional mining equipment. It estimates an initial 11.5-year mine life, with production, on average, of 450 000 oz/y for the first seven years. At peak production, the project is expected to produce 550 000 oz/y of gold.

Mining and blasting services will be undertaken by contractors.

There will also be a significant stockpiling strategy.

An estimated 308-million tonnes of waste mining is expected over the mine life.

The company will introduce tailings filtration before it is dry-stacked at the tailings facility, which is 1 km away from the processing plant. The tailings will be transported hydraulically for filtration, and from there on trucks to the storage facility.

The plant will start with two filters, with a third to be added at a later stage.

The DFS also includes plans for an on-site diesel-generated 14 MW power station.

The company plans to introduce renewables in stages as the project progresses, with an ultimate target of 20% of power consisting of renewables.

Potential Job Creation
Operational staff compliments have been filled.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an estimated net present value, at a 7.5% discount rate, of $654-million and an internal rate of return of 25%, with a payback of 2.2 years.

Capital Expenditure
The project is estimated at $1.04-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
The project started construction in February 2021.

Latest Developments
The project was 97% complete as at September 13, with certain sections of the plant already in precommissioning.

Gold Fields reports that the ramp-up of the project has been significantly derisked with mining activities having continued throughout the construction and commissioning phase resulting in 1.6-million ore tonnes and 380 000 oz of gold stockpiled to date.

Certain components of the plant, however, require commissioning by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vendor to maintain the validity of their warranties. Challenges in securing the OEM vendor representatives, owing to previously announced delays by the main contractor, have resulted in about a two-month delay to commissioning of the mills and filter presses and, therefore, a delay to the production of first gold.

First gold from the project is still expected in the fourth quarter of 2023, but has moved from the beginning to the latter part of the quarter. If first gold is produced on December 1, 2023, production for 2023 is expected to be 1 000 gold equivalent ounces (previously 15 000 gold equivalent ounces to 20 000 gold equivalent ounces); 2024 production has also been impacted on and is expected to fall in the range of 400 000 gold equivalent ounces, previously 500 000 gold equivalent ounces).

Should the delay be longer and first gold is only produced at the end of December 2023, production in 2024 is expected to be 350 000 gold equivalent ounces.

Despite the downgrade in production for 2023 and 2024, steady state production will be reached by the beginning of 2025 and therefore planned production volumes for 2025 and 2026 remain unchanged at 600 000 gold equivalent ounces.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Fluor (engineering, procurement and construction management).

Contact Details for Project Information
Gold Fields, email Investors@goldfields.com.