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Bloomberg

Gold Fields Ltd., the South African producer with mines from Peru to Australia, said third-quarter earnings dropped 22 percent as costs rose and revenue from bullion sales fell.

Headline earnings were $14 million in the three months to Sept. 30, compared with $18 million the previous quarter, the Johannesburg company said today in a statement. All-in sustaining costs climbed 2.2 percent to $1,074 an ounce, while revenue from gold sales declined 0.8 percent to $1,265 an ounce.

The results were “consistent with guidance previously given,” Gold Fields said in the statement. “This has enabled the group to continue to generate cash and to further strengthen its balance sheet.”

Gold Fields, which spun off three of its cash-generative but old South African mines to create Sibanye Gold Ltd. last year, is seeking to “aggressively” pay down debt over the next three years as it adjusts to a gold price that’s down 29 percent since the beginning of 2013, Holland said in August. The company is also on the lookout for cheap, in-production acquisitions that more troubled miners are offloading.

The company reduced net debt in the quarter by $137 million to $1.5 billion. All-in sustaining costs for the year are expected to be 3 percent lower than previous forecast at $1,090 an ounce, it said.

Gold production rose 2 percent to 559,000 ounces in the quarter compared with the previous three months, the company said.