| FY14 | FY13 | FY12 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of employees | |||
| – Permanent | 1 352 | 1 478 | 1 415 |
| – Contractors | 169 | 268 | 241 |
| Total | 1 521 | 1 746 | 1 656 |
| Operational | |||
| Volumes milled (000t) | 301 | 323 | 316 |
| Gold produced (kg) | 1 413 | 1 626 | 1 123 |
| Gold produced (oz) | 45 429 | 52 277 | 36 106 |
| Grade (g/t) | 4.69 | 5.03 | 3.55 |
| Productivity (g/TEC) | 79.24 | 91.80 | 67.37 |
| Development results | |||
| Total metres (excl. capital metres) | 4 876 | 4 021 | 4 637 |
| Reef metres | 2 254 | 1 283 | 1 975 |
| Capital metres | 468 | 731 | 0 |
| Financial | |||
| Revenue (Rm) | 609 | 737 | 472 |
| Average gold price received (R/kg) | 431 872 | 457 089 | 418 286 |
| Production profit/(loss) (Rm) | 52 | 229 | 44 |
| Capital expenditure (Rm) | 128 | 145 | 90 |
| Cash operating cost (R/kg) | 394 522 | 316 547 | 380 267 |
| All-in sustaining cost (R/kg) | 503 810 | 419 004 | 468 480 |
| Safety | |||
| No of fatalities | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lost-time injury frequency rate per million hours worked | 11.03 | 8.75 | 7.57 |
| Environmental | |||
| Electricity consumption (GWh) | 94 | 93 | – |
| Water consumption – primary activities (ML) | 688 | 576 | – |
| greenhouse gas emissions (000t CO2e) | 93 | 92 | – |
| Intensity data per tonne treated | |||
| – energy | 0.31 | 0.29 | – |
| – water | 2.29 | 1.78 | – |
| – greenhouse gas emissions | 0.31 | 0.28 | – |
| Number of reportable environmental incidents | 0 | 0 | – |
| Community | |||
| Local economic development (Rm) | 5 | 1 | – |
| Training and development (Rm) | 8.4 | 6.6 | 3.1 |
Grade and tonnage slippages throughout the year posed a challenge and although addressed, this nevertheless resulted in decreased production. Environmental conditions and unplanned crew re-allocations away from the low-grade stope panels on the secondary reefs affected production negatively, as did the impaired functioning of the compressor and fridge plant.
Despite numerous initiatives by both management and organised labour to return Target 3 to profitability, this operation continued to record cash flow losses. Given the current gold price environment and the significant capital investment required to sustain operations at this shaft, Target 3 made a cumulative loss of approximately R260 million in the past four and a half years and is predicted to continue to make a loss in the foreseeable future.
Additional development and equipping is required to access the South Block to sustain operations at Target 3 and, in particular the build-up of stoping on the Basal reef. While the South Block remains a valuable resource, Target 3 will be placed on care and maintenance, from end November 2014 once the requirements of a section 189 process have been fulfilled.