Harmony Gold to pay record interim dividend, extend life of Mponeng mine (NYSE:HMY)

Harmony Gold (NYSE:HMY) +2.3% pre-market Wednesday after reporting profit tripled to 5.96B rand in the final six months of 2023 from a year earlier, while overall production jumped 14% Y/Y to 832K oz.

The miner declared an interim payout of 147 rand cents per share, increasing returns to investors as a higher gold price, improved mine grades and higher production helped reduce costs and raise H1 revenues by 35% to $1.68B.

Harmony (HMY) said H1 operating free cash flow also more than tripled to a record 7.1M rand (~$381M), driven by operational excellence and higher recovered grades.

Production enjoyed a boost from a 30% increase in output at its Mponeng mine in South Africa, and Harmony (HMY) said approved a plan to extend the life of the world’s deepest gold mine by 20 years from seven currently.

Harmony (HMY) said it expects to spend 7.9B rand (~$410M) to extend the life of the Mponeng mine, with work due to begin in 2025.

Overall production from South Africa’s gold sector has shrunk to less than 20% of its peak with greater costs and geological challenges of mining ever deeper deposits.