During a Capital Markets Day media conference call, on November 13, gold miner Gold Fields CEO Mike Fraser pointed out that the company is targeting incremental production growth over the next five years, with the company aiming to ramp its output up to about three-million ounces by the end of the decade.

From 2031 to 2035, the company aims to maintain production at between 2.5-million and 3-million ounces a year.

“Our ambition to be a 2.5-million- to 3-million-ounce-a-year producer – we can quite comfortably demonstrate that for the next number of decades, given our existing reserve profile and the opportunities in front of us,” said Fraser.

The conference call followed Gold Field’s Capital Markets Day, on November 12, which provided shareholders with an update on the company’s strategic initiatives to enhance the quality and value of its portfolio.

Despite inflationary pressures, such as producer currency inflation, increased royalties being paid as a result of higher gold prices and general underlying industry inflation, Fraser said the company expects to be able to hold its all-in sustaining costs flat in real terms over the next five years.

Fraser also noted a discretionary investment that Gold Fields aimed to invest back into its business to enable its sustainable long-term growth.

The CEO explained that the company had allocated about $2-billion, which he said would be invested back into the business to unlock some of the opportunities that the company had to extend life and to reduce costs into the next horizon of the business.

Additionally, Gold Fields announced that it had adopted a refined capital allocation framework, which included a revised dividend policy.

In a Sens release, the company said its board of directors had approved a revised dividend policy which included a targeted base dividend of 35% of free cash flow before discretionary growth investments, with a minimum dividend of $0.50 a share – paid semi-annually at $0.25 a share, subject to maintaining an adjusted net debt-to-adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation ratio of below 1 times.

Should this minimum be lower than the targeted 35% of free cash flow before discretionary growth investments, Gold Fields will make a top-up payment to bring the total base dividend to 35% of free cash flow before discretionary growth investments.

In addition to the base dividend, based on the operating and financial performance in 2025 to date, and current cash flow projections, the company said it expected to provide shareholders with an additional return of up to $500-million to be delivered over a two-year period.

This additional return will be in the form of share buybacks and/or special dividends.

The timing and composition of such returns will be communicated with the 2025 final dividend declaration.