Gold Fields unveils South Deep turnaround plan, earnings up sharply

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African bullion producer Gold Fields on Thursday announced a rise in profits and a long-awaited plan to make its South Deep mine profitable, with a production target of 500,000 ounces a year. * Gold Fields posted normalised earnings of $191 million forthe year ended December 2016 compared with normalised earnings(not losses) of $45 million for the year ended December 2015. * This was in line with what the company had flagged to themarket, primarily driven by an increase in the US$ gold price (8percentYoY) and lower net operating costs in local currencies aswell as the impact of converting these costs at weaker exchangerates. * South Deep, a mechanised operation that is Gold Fields'last South African asset, generated net cash flow of $12 millionand the company said it had a plan in place to wring profitsfrom the mine, which has had a series of set-backs. * Gold Fields, which scrapped production targets for themine of 700,000 or more ounces a year three years ago to focuson getting it to break even, said it was changing mining methodsat South Deep to eliminate cumbersome steps in the productionprocess. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard)