By Nelson Banya
(Reuters) – South African gold producer Harmony Gold expects a near-term gold price boost from the Russia-Ukraine crisis, chief executive officer Peter Steenkamp told Reuters on Monday, after the company reported a 65% decline in half-year profit.
Gold has risen by about 6% so far in February in the build-up to Russia’s Ukraine invasion, with gold set to post its strongest monthly gain since May 2021 this month. Last week, prices soared to an 18-month high of $1,973.96. [GOL/]
On Monday, shares in all gold companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) traded well above the broader index that was up 2%. Harmony Gold was trading up almost 11% at 1300 GMT.
“The situation in Ukraine and Russia will give a tailwind to the gold price in the short-term, but I think we already have good support for the dollar price and also the rand price for gold,” Steenkamp told Reuters in an interview.
Gold miners globally have been struggling with higher inflation, especially in the last six months, which is adding to their overall cost of production, called all-in sustaining cost (AISC).
During times of inflation gold prices move up as gold helps investors to hedge the fall in value of currency. But persistently high prices, led by higher oil prices, increase other costs such as power, mining and transportation.
Harmony, South Africa’s biggest gold miner by volume, reported a 12% increase in AISC at $1,660 per ounce for the half year, compared with $1,370 per ounce reported a year ago. It had in January revised its AISC for year ending June 30 by over 4%.
Harmony’s headline earnings per share – the main measure of corporate profit in South Africa – was 2.48 rand ($0.1616) for the six months to Dec. 31, compared with 7.13 rand a year ago. The company announced a dividend of 40 cents for the half year.
The miner will close one of its smaller mines, Bambanani, by June and 1,500 workers employed at the mine will be re-deployed to the company’s other operations.
($1 = 15.3450 rand)
(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Promit Mukherjee and Jane Merriman)
