Gold Fields Targets 20% of Global Output from Tarkwa Mine by 2026
Gold Fields has pledged long-term investment in Ghana’s Tarkwa gold mine, positioning the asset to account for a fifth of the South African group’s global output by 2026, as surging production and higher prices lifted half-year earnings to record levels.
Mike Fraser, chief executive, told reporters at a media roundtable on Friday that Tarkwa remained “an important asset for us” and could generate about 20 per cent of group production in the next two years. “We are committed to continue to invest in Tarkwa for the long term,” he said, adding that the group would consider further opportunities in Ghana if they arose.
Tarkwa, one of Africa’s largest gold mines, operates across a 20,800-hectare lease area and has been central to Gold Fields’ presence in West Africa, supporting thousands of jobs and local communities.
The miner reported a 24 per cent year-on-year rise in attributable production to 1,136koz in the first half of 2025, keeping it on track to meet full-year guidance. Normalised earnings jumped 181 per cent to $998 million, or $1.12 per share, compared with $355 million, or $0.40 per share, a year earlier.
The improvement was underpinned by higher output and stronger realised gold prices, which also helped swing adjusted free cash flow to $952 million from an outflow of $58 million in the prior-year period. Adjusted free cash flow from operations rose more than threefold to $1.14 billion.
Gold Fields used the windfall to strengthen its balance sheet, cutting net debt by $599 million since December 2024, bringing net debt-to-Ebitda down to 0.37 times.
The group declared an interim dividend of 700 South African cents per share, up 133 per cent from last year and representing 34 per cent of normalised earnings, in line with its policy of returning between 25 and 35 per cent of earnings to shareholders.
