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optimized, Gold Fields reported 2.16 mil- lion oz of gold production in 2015, at an all- in sustaining cost of $1,007 for the year. South Deep itself contributed 198,000 oz, whereas the company's main production came from its Australian (988,000 oz) and Ghanaian (753,900 oz) operations. Cerro Corona in Peru added a further 295,600 oz. In its full-year report, Gold Fields noted that the mining fleet at South Deep was optimized during 2015, with 24 new machines delivered and a further 17 scheduled to arrive this year. The mine also managed to fill most of its critical skill posi- tions in both mining and engineering, with improved performance expected this year and production predicted at 257,000 oz. In August, the company sold out its interest in the Woodjam copper-gold-moly prospect in Canada to its partner, and is evaluating future options for its Damang operation in Ghana. Sibanye Targets PGMs Goldcorp reported production of 3.46 million oz in 2015, achieved at an all-in sustaining cost of $852/oz before inventory impair- ments. The company commissioned two new mines during the year, which ended with free cash flow of $335 million compared to negative $1 billion in 2014. After taking $3.9 billion in impairment charges, Goldcorp posted a $4.2 billion net loss for the year against a loss of $2.16 billion in 2014. The company's two new mines, Cerro Negro in Argentina and Éléonore in Québec, produced 268,100 oz and 507,400 oz, respectively, at all-in sustain- ing costs of $1,007 and $769/oz. In Mexico, Peñasquito achieved a record 860,300 oz at $544/oz, while Red Lake in Ontario won 375,700 oz at $906/oz. Goldcorp is currently working on brown- field expansion opportunities at Peñasquito (pyrite leach and the Camino Rojo oxide projects), Musselwhite (materials handling), Red Lake (HG Young and Cochenour) and Porcupine (the Borden prospect). Production at Sibanye Gold dropped only slightly in 2015, from 1.59 million oz to 1.54 million oz. Average all-in sustain- ing costs were also $40 lower, at $1,031/oz. The company reported that it had been a year of two halves, with the sec- ond markedly better than the first, which had been affected by load-shedding by the state power utility, Eskom. Sibanye bene- fitted during 2015 from higher received gold prices, reflecting the devaluation of the rand against the dollar. Diversification is a key element in Sibanye's future strategy, with a proposed $294 million acquisition of Aquarius Platinum following its agreement in September with Anglo American to buy the Rustenburg platinum operations for at least $290 million. Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman noted that Rustenburg provides an attrac- tively priced entry at an advantageous moment in the price cycle, being similar in nature to Sibanye's gold operations. Finally, AngloGold Ashanti reported the production of 3.95 million oz of gold last year, down from 4.44 million oz in 2014. All-in sustaining costs fell from $1,020/oz to $910/oz year-on-year. A major highlight of the year was the production of the 1-mil- lionth ounce at Tropicana in Western Australia, after just two years of operation. The company sold its Cripple Creek & Victor mine in Colorado to Newmont, but its pro- posed joint venture with Randgold Resources at Obuasi in Ghana came to naught. Safety-related stoppages were mainly responsible for a fall of 112,000 oz at AngloGold Ashanti's South African mines, to 1 million oz in 2015. The company's other African mines produced 1.44 million oz, with 831,000 oz from the Americas and 560,000 oz from Australia. 36 E&MJ; • MARCH 2016 www.e-mj.com G O L D M A R K E T A Century Ago: Gold in 1915 According to data compiled by the Mineral Resources Department of the Imperial Institute (the predecessor in this task of the British Geological Survey), world gold pro- duction in 1915 totaled 710 mt. South Africa was by far the leading producer, accounting for 40% of the world total on its own, with the mines of the Witwatersrand— and a few others—winning 282 mt. Second place in the producers' table, the USA's output that year was reported to be 152 mt—and these were the only two countries in which annual output exceeded 100 mt. Indeed, it is nearly fair to say that they were the only two that produced more than 50 mt, although Australia just man- aged to deny them that accolade, having produced 60 mt in 1915. Other significant output was sourced from Russia (with which the Imperial Institute combined data for Finland and Siberia), Canada, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), India and the Gold Coast (now Ghana). In Latin America, Colombia and Mexico were the principal contributors to world production, while in the Far East, Japanese and Korean output came to a combined 14 mt. Gold mining in today's world leader, China, seems to have been very limited 100 years ago, with the Imperial Institute providing an estimated value of 200,000 oz, or about 6 mt. With World War I then affecting national economies, world gold production was on a downhill trend, from 720 mt in 1913 to 574 mt in 1918. For example, U.S. output peaked in 1915 but had fallen from 152 mt to 103 mt by 1918. Two years later, the sit- uation was even worse, with U.S. mines pro- ducing just 74 mt of gold in 1920. The reasons for the decline were two- fold: the call-up of manpower for the world's armed forces, and a gold price that had been fixed since 1879 at $20.67/oz. With fewer miners and cost inflation because of the war, more and more mining companies felt the pinch. On a purely academic level, it is inter- esting to speculate what the world's gold industry would look like today if the price of an ounce of gold had remained the equivalent of that $20.67. Adjusting for historical inflation is always a tricky exer- cise, with different values being applied to consumer prices and commodities. How- ever, as a general guide, most calculators seem to suggest that a value of about $500 is somewhere near right. Putting that into perspective, how many mines in operation today would be able to make a profit on $500 gold? Precious few, if the GFMS cost curve is anything to go by. Country ............................ Output (mt) South Africa .......................... 282 mt USA .................................... 152 mt Australia ..............................0 60 mt Russia, Finland and Siberia ....0 40 mt Canada ................................0 29 mt Southern Rhodesia ................0 28 mt India ....................................0 17 mt Gold Coast ............................0 13 mt New Zealand ........................0 12 mt Colombia ..............................00 8 mt Japan ..................................00 8 mt Mexico ................................00 7 mt Korea ..................................00 6 mt China ..................................00 6 mt World total ............................ 710 mt