Harmony in talks with Rio Tinto on Hidden Valley

Harmony Gold is in advanced talks with global miner Rio Tinto on the Hidden Valley project in Papua New Guinea that will help improve its cash costs by $10 per ounce of gold, it said on Friday.

Harmony's Chief Executive Bernard Swanepoel told a presentation about the talks after the company reported second quarter results.

South Africa's Harmony, the world's fifth biggest gold producer, has previously said that the Hidden Valley project could produce 280,000 ounces of gold and 3.9 million ounces of silver per year during a mine life estimated at around 10 years.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

Harmony Q2 h'dline EPS down 33 pct, misses f'casts

Harmony Gold, the world's fifth biggest gold producer, posted a 33 percent slide in second quarter profit on Friday, worse than analysts' expectations, as output dipped and costs rose.

South Africa's Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd said headline EPS for the three months to end December fell to 44 South African cents from 66 cents the previous quarter.

Harmony was expected to post a 25 percent fall in EPS to 50 cents, according to an average estimate of 9 analysts polled by Reuters. Their estimates were in a range of 20-70 cents.
Harmony said production for the quarter fell 3.8 percent to 18,724 kg while cash costs increased by 6.8 percent to 104,132 rand per kg.

Read more at Reuters South Africa