5
Safety and health
Safety
Harmony continues to focus on sustainable safety improvements.
Our management team is committed to ensuring that safety remains
a priority at Harmony and to ensure that safety procedures and
protocols of the highest standards are implemented at all Harmony’s
operations. Regrettably, fi ve fatalities were recorded during the quarter
under review. Falls of ground and tramming accidents remain the main
causes of the accidents.
We are pleased to announce that during the December 2009 quarter,
a single digit Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) was achieved for
the fi fth consecutive quarter and also improved by 18% on year-to-
date fi gures from 9.35 to 7.64. However, the LTIFR dropped 20% from
6.91 in the previous quarter to 8.30. The Fatality Injury Frequency Rate
(FIFR) indicated a remarked improvement of 38% quarter on quarter
from 0.32 to 0.20. However, the year to date fi gure deteriorated 24%
from 0.21 to 0.26. The year to date Reportable injury Frequency Rate
(RIFR) improved by 18% when compared to the actual fi gure for the
previous year (from 4.97 to 4.09), but regressed by 29% quarter on
quarter (from 3.55 to 4.59).
A signifi cant amount of attention was directed towards safety
management during the quarter under review. Management has
played a signifi cant role in setting safety objectives and in developing
safety strategies that continue to focus on:
management leading by example;
involvement of all stakeholders;
compliance with standards, and the auditing thereof;
Financial overview
Cash operating profit was 44.9% higher at R800 million due to a higher
average Rand gold price received and lower cash operating costs
counteracting the impact of lower gold production and gold sold
(excluding ounces from Hidden Valley).
Earnings per share
Basic earnings per share increased from a loss of 7 SA cents to
earnings of 28 SA cents. Similarly, headline earnings increased from
a headline loss of 12 SA cents to headline earnings of 49 SA cents.
This improvement can be attributed to an increase in revenue.
Revenue
A 10.6% increase in the average Rand gold price received to
R264 774/kg took revenue 8.2% higher to R2 971 million in spite
of a 6.2% decrease in gold production to 10 900kg (excluding gold
production at Hidden Valley) and a 2.2% decrease in gold sold to
11 224kg (excluding gold sold at Hidden Valley).
Costs
Total cash operating costs were 1% lower at R2 172 million due
mainly to the lower summer-month electricity tariff applicable. Cash
operating unit costs rose by 2% to R192 101/kg due to lower gold
production.
behaviour-based campaigns and initiatives;
recognition of achievements; and
in situ training, particularly in hazard identifi cation and risk
assessment.
Harmony’s commitment to zero fatalities is communicated to
employees on a regular basis, at every level of the company with a
persistent, deliberate and consistent safety awareness effort. We have
a comprehensive safety auditing programme (fi rst reported in FY07) in
place to assess the physical workplace, compliance with fall of ground
regulations, shafts and metallurgical processes (specifi cally in relation
to compliance with the Cyanide Code).
More than 90% of the group’s South African workforce participated in
formal joint management-worker health and safety committees that
participate in occupational health and safety programmes.
The following operations achieved outstanding safety results:
Harmony Total Operations – 1 000 000 fatality free shifts twice
during the quarter
Ernest Oppenheimer Hospital – 4 000 000 fatality free shifts
Harmony 2 and Merriespruit 1 and 3 operations as a unit – 2 500 000
fatality free shifts
Randfontein Medical Bureau – 1 250 000 fatality free shifts
Tshepong – 750 000 fatality free shifts
Evander 8 shaft – 2 250 000 fatality free shifts
Free State Surface Operations – 2 000 000 fatality free shifts
Capital expenditure
Total capital expenditure was 2.5% lower at R892 million. While
capital expenditure for the South African operations increased by
6.8% to R711 million, Hidden Valley capital expenditure was 27.3%
lower at R181 million due to completion of construction at the site
starting to come to an end.
Impairment of assets
An impairment of R67 million for Evander 2 and 5 shafts and
R37 million for Brand 3 shaft were recorded following the decision
to place these shafts on care and maintenance.
Security costs
Security costs increased by 19% to R90.5 million in calendar year
2009, in comparison to calendar year 2008 (R76 million), mainly due
to additional measures being put in place to curb criminal mining.
Disposals
The remaining Avoca shares were disposed of in October 2009
for A$4.1 million.
Nedbank facility
The Company entered into loan facilities with Nedbank Limited in
December 2009. One being term facility of R900 million and the other
a revolving credit facility of R600 million to pay for the acquisition
of the Pamodzi Free State assets and to create financial flexibility.