A Harmony Gold local mine. Harmony Gold said it had spent R1.3 billion in acquisition costs related to the MAC Copper transaction.
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Shares in Harmony Gold traded 7% weaker in mid-day trading on the JSE on Wednesday despite the South African bullion producer upping half year headline earnings per share by 13% to 1 431 cents.
The company’s stock has traded around 8% weaker in the past 30 and 90 days although CEO Bayers Nel said the company’s share price on the JSE had “performed well over” the year to December 31, 2025.
Despite firming up by 124% to close 2025 at R337.08, shares in Harmony Gold 7.26% weaker at R290.11 year to date. On Wednesday, Harmony Gold said it had spent R1.3 billion in acquisition costs related to the MAC Copper transaction. It had also recorded increased financing costs to R708 million while its current tax expenses soared by 86% to R3.5bn as improved profitability drove mining taxes.
As result of these developments, basic earnings per share in Harmony Gold increased by 24% to 1,563 SA cents while half year headline earnings per share rose by 13% to 1,431 cents. This has prompted Harmony Gold to declare a 530 cents per share interim dividend, amounting to a record payout of about R3.3bn.
This was after operating profits for the half year under review increased by 61% to R16.1bn on the back of a 36% rise in average gold prices received, including hedge, for the period to about R1,909,849 per kilogram. Harmony Gold produced 22 522 kilograms of gold during the interim period, a 9% slump on the previous contrasting period due to what the company described as “temporary challenges” in the second quarter.
Underground recovered grades also decreased by 11% to 5.72 grammes per tonne as a result of lower metallurgical recoveries. All-in sustaining cost (AISC) for the period also increased by 21% to R1,180,367 per kilogram, in line with Harmony Gold’s guidance and mainly due to lower production.
Although Nel said Harmony Gold remains predominantly a gold miner, the company has been diversifying into copper. The company has hit maiden copper production from its newly acquired CSA mine. In the outlook, Harmony has set its guidance for CSA copper at between 17,500 to 18,500 tonnes at a C1 cash cost of $2.65/lb to $2.80/lb and grades of above 3.5% for the 2026 full year.
“Gold remains core to Harmony. Expanding into copper is an intentional step to enhance portfolio quality and long-term durability,” said Nel. “Based on current projects, we expect to produce approximately 100 000 tonnes of copper per annum within the next three years, once the Eva Copper Project is completed (establishing) Harmony as a world-class gold producer with a meaningful copper footprint.”
However, production at the CSA mine is expected to be temporarily halted for about “one month to allow for essential steel replacement on two levels” of the shaft.
Nel said this was a necessary intervention to ensure long-term safety, reliability, and production stability at the operation.
Harmony Gold is maintaining its 2026 full year gold production guidance at between 1,400,000 ounces and 1,500,000 ounces. Full year all in sustaining costs guidance also remains unchanged at between R1,150 00/kg and R1,220 000 per kilogram.
With the company continuing to apply a hedging strategy as a way of locking in margins, protecting cash flows and reducing the impact of potential adverse commodity and currency movements, Harmony Gold hopes to protect returns, maintain financial flexibility and safeguard the business across commodity cycles.
“The record gold prices continue providing an excellent opportunity to replace maturing hedges with new ones as they expire, locking in higher margins in line with our hedging policy. The gold hedge book was maintained at between 10% and 30% of production over a rolling 36 month period,” said Harmony Gold.
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