Harmony’s 60th birthday

On 25 August 1950, a small, single-lease gold mining company called Harmony celebrated its registration as a public company in South Africa.

On 25 August 2010, that same company celebrated its 60th birthday – having become one of the largest producers of gold in the world, with no fewer than 12 operations throughout South Africa as well as exciting mining and exploration projects as far afield as Papua New Guinea.

Having come so far over the last 60 years, this is definitely a special milestone in our history and one worthy of great celebration! Here is how we marked the occasion at a few of our South African operations.

At Tshepong, every employee at work was invited to a celebratory birthday function on the day, as a gesture of goodwill from the management team. Tshepong General Manager, Francois Janse van Rensburg said: “I was very happy with the way the celebrations went here at Tshepong, especially because we were able to donate some of the party food to the Mev Pres Steyn Old age home in Odendaalsrus, and the Chris Hani Centre for Pre-school children in Hani Park in Welkom. The caretakers there were very thankful for the donations, and that made the day particularly special.”

The birthday spirit also caught on at Target and Bambanani, where employees were greeted with big Harmony birthday banners as they came up from underground, giving the operations an atmosphere of fun and festivity. Doornkop and Evander got into the swing of things with complementary refreshments and cards for everyone saying “Happy birthday Harmony!” in different languages, or birthday souvenirs inscribed with the simple message: “Harmony 60!”

The birthday celebrations at our corporate offices in Randfontein went down in style and certainly gave all of our employees a sense of pride to be part of the company at such a special time. Everyone gathered during lunch hour to celebrate and raise their glasses to a birthday toast from our CEO, Graham Briggs. The custom-made and very delicious birthday cupcakes were particularly popular!

We also hosted key investors, fund managers and analysts for Harmony’s Investor Day, and they too were spoiled with birthday treats throughout the day.

The corporate celebrations all culminated in an evening cocktail party, which was attended by Harmony’s management team along with all the Investor Day guests.

All in all, it was a great way to mark a special day for Harmony and a fitting celebration of our achievements over the last 60 years. More importantly however, this birthday was an opportunity to mark the beginning of the next 60 years of success for Harmony.