Gold Fields reported attributable gold equivalent production of 605,000 ounces for the third quarter of 2026, 3 percent lower than a year earlier, and kept its full year guidance of 2.4 million to 2.6 million ounces, saying output would land at the upper end of the range. Chief executive Mike Fraser pointed to a stronger fourth quarter, helped by higher planned grades at St Ives in Australia and further improvement at Gruyere, Tarkwa in Ghana and Salares Norte in Chile.
Salares Norte was the standout, producing 136,000 ounces in the quarter at an all in sustaining cost of $437 an ounce, well below the group average. Gruyere, St Ives, Tarkwa, South Deep in South Africa and Cerro Corona in Peru all increased production quarter on quarter, partly offset by planned lower output at Salares Norte within the quarter’s sequencing and lower grades at Agnew in Western Australia.
Costs remain the pressure point. Group all in sustaining costs were $1,965 an ounce, in line with the June quarter but 26 percent higher than the same quarter in 2025, which the company attributed mainly to external factors. Full year all in sustaining costs are still expected between $1,800 and $2,000 an ounce and all in costs between $2,075 and $2,300 an ounce, inside original guidance. With bullion prices far above those levels, margins are wide, but a quarter of cost growth in a year is the trend investors will test against the promised fourth quarter volume.