Electricity disruptions and water supply constraints contributed to a difficult production environment at the South African operations of Harmony Gold for the three months ended March 31.
Production for the quarter – the third of its 2022 financial year – decreased by 11% quarter-on-quarter to 325 719 oz.
Adverse ground conditions at the Moab Khotsong mine and safety-related stoppages at the Mponeng and Bambanani operations as a result of seismicity also contributed to lower production.
“With safety as our top priority, we delayed accessing certain higher-grade areas at Moab Khotsong to ensure that these areas were structurally well-supported before mining activities continued and stopped mining in areas impacted by seismicity at Mponeng and Bambanani.
“We are mining out Bambanani and this operation will be closed at the end of June,” the gold miner said in a May 12 market update.
Output at the Hidden Valley mine, in Papua New Guinea, was also adversely impacted on by a conveyor belt failure.
Harmony, however, still expects to achieve its full-year output guidance of 1.48-million to 1.56-million ounces of gold.