IN THE most sweeping strategic change since it unbundled all its South African mines except for South Deep into Sibanye last year, Gold Fields has now effectively shut down its “greenfields” exploration and development projects.

Instead, the group will look at buying gold companies that are in production and making profits, preferably in regions where Gold Fields is already operating.

“Given where we are in the gold business cycle, we think there’s more value in buying gold than there is in discovering it,” Mr Holland said. “We’ve been exploring for 16 years. Expenditure on exploration has gone up significantly, but the number of discoveries and the grade of those discoveries has come down.

“Gold is scarce. It’s not easy to find the stuff,” he said.