HARMONY GOLD MINING CO LTD - HARMONY AND NUM AGREE ON CONOPS AT ELANDSRAND
Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd
JSE: HAR HAR
NYSE: HMY
ISIN No.: ZAE000015228
HARMONY AND NUM AGREE ON CONOPS AT ELANDSRAND
Johannesburg, Monday, 16 August 2004 - Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd (JSE
: HAR NYSE : HMY) today announced that it had reached an agreement with the
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on the implementation of CONOPS at its
Elandsrand operations in North West.
Following an agreement reached with NUM on 16 July 2004, at which the concept
and implementation of CONOPS were agreed to at a national level, discussions
were initiated at a regional level.
With the conclusion of this agreement, the company has now implemented CONOPS at
its Free Gold, Evander, Target, ARMgold and Elandsrand operations, representing
66% of its South African production.
The current Evander operations are mature in nature and will benefit in the
short-term from the introduction of CONOPS. Benefits will, however, be more
evident as its growth project comes into production.
`Having an agreement on CONOPS at Elandsrand will be beneficial to all involved.
Elandsrand, which is currently developing a new mine below the current workings,
is ideally suited to the work practices related to CONOPS. Returns from this
project, at significantly higher recovery grades and a lower cash cost profile
than the current operations, will be optimized for all our stakeholders.`
commented Bernard Swanepoel, chief executive.
The Elandsrand New Mine project is expected to produce some 450 000 ounces of
gold over a project life of some 17 years at a cash cost of US$260/oz.
CONOPS (continuous operations) refers to the practice where a mine operates on
all the days of the year, including Sundays. Workers operate on a roster or
shift arrangement which sees them work the same amount of hours per week and
therefore the company needs to employ more people in order to facilitate working
the additional days.
Currently most gold mines in South Africa operate for approximately 273 days per
year. The successful introduction of CONOPS can increase this number to 353
days per year (excluding the 12 public holidays). This will result in a 12%
increase in labour on the shafts as well as a 5% reduction in unit cost/tonne.
Issued by Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited
16 August 2004
For more details contact:
Bernard Swanepoel
on +27(0)83 303 9922
or
Ferdi Dippenaar
on +27(0)82 807 3684
Investor Relations Officer
Corne Bobbert
Tel +27 11 684 0146
Mobile +27(0)83 380 6614
cbobbert@harmony.co.za
www.harmony.co.za
JSE: HAR HAR
NYSE: HMY
ISIN No.: ZAE000015228
Date: 17/08/2004 08:16:04 AM Produced by the JSE SENS Department
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