Gold Fields
Gold Fields Limited is one of the world's largest gold mining firms. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company is listed on both the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. The firm was formed in 1998 with the amalgamation of the gold assets of Gold Fields of South Africa Limited and Gencor Limited. The company traces its roots back to 1887, when Cecil Rhodes founded Gold Fields of South Africa Limited. As of 2019, Gold Fields was the world's eighth-largest producer of gold.
The company owns and operates mines in Australia, Chile, Ghana, Peru and South Africa, with one 50:50 JV project in Canada. Growth efforts are focused mainly on the regions where it currently operates and are mainly driven through brownfields exploration on its existing land positions and through mergers and acquisitions in the same regions.
Board of directors
- Chairperson – Yunus Suleman
Executive directors
- Chief executive officer – Mike Fraser
- Chief financial officer – Alex Dall
Operations
Australia
- Agnew
- St Ives
- Granny Smith
- Gruyere
Ghana
- Tarkwa
- Damang
Peru
- Cerro Corona
South Africa
- South Deep
- Beatrix gold mine
- KDC mine
- Driefontein mine
Chile
- Salares Norte
Canada
- Windfall project
Environment
In October 2001 a tailings dam ruptured at the company's Tarkwa Gold Mine in Ghana resulting in thousands of cubic metres of mine waste water spilling into the Asuman River and resulting in the death of significant marine life. While acknowledging the cyanide spill the company stated at the time that the spill did not affect human health or safety.A further incident occurred in 2003 when water from an abandoned underground mine shaft, again at the company's Tarkwa Gold Mine, was identified as having seeped into the Asuman River sparking further fears of contamination.
In July 2012 the company was directed by the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency to halt a gold-recovery plant at the Tarkwa Gold Mine because water discharged from the site required additional treatment.