South Africa police standoff with illegal gold miners escalates
The police sealed off access to the Buffelsfontein gold mine in Stilfontein several weeks ago to deny the miners access to food and other essentials.
Australia’s Newcrest Mining Ltd reported its best annual profit on Thursday, as the country’s largest listed gold miner benefited from higher prices of the precious metal.
Prices of safe-haven gold rose more than 25% in 2020 due to pandemic-led uncertainty, but they have eased this year as a global economic recovery gathers steam.
Melbourne-based Newcrest netted $1,796 for each ounce of gold it sold in fiscal 2021, compared with $1,530 per ounce a year earlier.
That helped its underlying profit rise to $1.16 billion in the 12 months to June 30, from $647 million a year earlier. Analysts on average expected $1.17 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Newcrest declared a final dividend of 40 cents a share, compared with 25 cents a year earlier and analysts’ estimates of 33 cents.
However, the miner forecast lower gold output for fiscal 2022 as it expects production to weaken at its Cadia mine.
(By Soumyajit Saha and Shashwat Awasthi; Editing by Aditya Soni)
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