Harmony Gold’s first quarter of its 2027 financial year, to September 30, was a study in offsetting forces. Group gold production fell 12 percent year on year to 10,661 kilograms, or 342,758 ounces, which the company said was in line with guidance and mainly due to an anticipated ore gap at Moab Khotsong and a regulatory stoppage at Hidden Valley in Papua New Guinea, since resolved. Gold revenue still rose 3 percent to R22.3 billion, or US$1.4 billion, from R21.7 billion, because the average gold price received rose 17 percent to $4,057 an ounce.
Costs rose faster than revenue. All-in sustaining cost increased 17 percent to R1,300,073 per kilogram, or US$2,484 an ounce, which Harmony placed towards the lower end of its full-year guidance range of R1,300,000 to R1,395,000 per kilogram. Royalties accounted for R59,448 per kilogram, or 5 percent of AISC. The company maintained full-year gold production guidance of 1.3 million to 1.4 million ounces.
The operational bright spot was grade at depth. Underground recovered grade across the group fell 6 percent to 5.53 grams per tonne, but at Mponeng, the world’s deepest mine in Gauteng’s West Rand, recovered grade increased 10 percent year on year to 11.55 grams per tonne from 10.54 grams per tonne, partly offsetting the group decline. Mponeng’s grade performance is the reason a mine working near four kilometres underground remains Harmony’s margin engine, and why its life extension project matters more to the group than any single quarter’s volume dip.