First Uranium Corporation T.FIU

RE: Any thoughts,,the actual blurb.

[narmac]

South African gold output falls hard

Allan Seccombe |Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:27
[miningmx.com] -- IN an all too familiarannouncement in recent years, the South African Chamber of Minesreported the country's first quarter gold production fell 15%quarter-on-quarter, extending the downward slide in output.South Africa has fallen quickly from the top of the perch as the world'slargest gold producer. It is now behind China, the United States andAustralia. Its mines are becoming deeper and more expensive to mine andgrades, which is the measurement of the amount of gold in each tonne ofore hauled to the surface for treatment, is dropping.The latest gold output data shows no signs of arresting the fall inproduction.South Africa produced 43,927.8kg of gold in the first three months of2010, which is 15% less than the December quarter and 12.4% down on thesame period a year ago."Gold mining companies lost an average of about 18 days ofproduction during the quarter as the impact of the latter part of theChristmas holidays affected production," the chamber said in astatement.The first quarter of the year is traditionally a weak quarter because ofthe slow start up after the year-end holidays.South African gold miners also have to contend with safety-relatedstoppages of shafts when there are fatal accidents underground. Goldcompanies are on concerted drives to improve safety to minimise theseshut downs.Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland told Miningmx in an interview this was acritical year for the South African gold sector. Productivity has to beimproved to avoid the closure of marginal shafts and job losses.Companies are grappling with steeply rising input costs, particularly onelectricity, which is a big expense on mines.Gold Fields wants to introduce a six-day working week, with every secondSaturday being a compulsory working shift.Harmony has shut downseven shafts because the ore bodies have run out or they're just notmaking money.AngloGold Ashanti is practically putting its South African mines intointensive care in a process designed to cut costs and boost productivityto ensure they cope with escalating costs.