Over 2,000 workers of Goldfields are likely to be sacked in Ghana in the coming months if gold prices on the global market do not recover.
The dismissals will occur if the mining giant goes ahead with plans to shut down the Damang Mine in the Western Region.
However, the company is currently deciding on whether to place the Damang Mine under “care and maintenance” by pulling back on certain mining activities until gold prices recover or inject cash to access deeper higher quality ore.
The company is expected to take a decision on the two options early next year.
According to Chief Executive of Goldfields, Nick Holland, “If the results of the study indicate that we are going to need higher gold prices to make it work, we may decide to pull back.”
A decision on the operation, which contributes seven percent of the company’s output, will be announced early next year.
“The costs at Damang are way too high – they are higher than the gold price. If you get rid of loss-making operations you are better off,” Hochreiter told Reuters.
Damang did not benefit from weaker currencies like its mines in other regions, leaving it exposed to sinking gold prices.
Gold Fields, which also operates mines in Australia and Peru, said normalised earnings for July-September reached $22m, the same as the previous quarter.
It also said it cut net debt by 3.4 percent to $1.42bn.
