*

New copper mine expected online in 2029

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Could produce up to 60,000 T of copper annually, company

says

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Mine cost to exceed earlier $600 million estimate, CEO

says

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Gold rally drives Harmony's half-year profit up 33%

(Writes through with CEO and finance chief's comments on

Australia copper project, context and background)

By Felix Njini and Nelson Banya

JOHANNESBURG, March 4 (Reuters) - Harmony Gold,

South Africa's biggest gold producer by volume, will fund the

construction of a new Australian copper mine using its own cash,

the miner said on Tuesday, as its earnings jumped on a rally in

gold prices.

The Johannesburg-based miner is diversifying into copper - a

metal critical to electric vehicles and power grid

infrastructure - as gold mining in South Africa becomes more

costly and geologically challenging due to increasing depth.

Harmony wholly owns the Eva copper project in Queensland,

Australia, and is joint owner with Newmont ( NEM ) of Wafi Golpu

in Papua New Guinea.

The mine in Australia could produce 55,000 metric tons to

60,000 tons of copper annually from 2029, the company says. The

cost of building the mine, expected to take about three years,

could be higher than an initial estimate of $600 million, CEO

Beyers Nel told Reuters.

Harmony is "blessed with a robust and flexible balance sheet

and quite comfortable" that it can fund the construction of Eva

copper mine on its own, Nel said.

Finance director Boipelo Lekubo told analysts the surge in

the gold price was a significant tailwind which had increased

Harmony's net cash position to nearly $400 million. This and

available financing facilities mean Harmony has about $1 billion

it can use on its growth projects.

Gold prices have risen more than 20% over the past year,

driven by safe-haven demand amid global economic uncertainty and

central bank buying.

Nel said Harmony was updating the planned mine's studies

before announcing how much financing would be required.

Harmony also owns the Hidden Valley gold mine in Papua New

Guinea. It is among a dwindling number of South African gold

miners still battling to squeeze profits from some of the

world's deepest mines.

Earlier on Tuesday, Harmony said its net profit jumped 33%

to 7.9 billion rand in the six months to December 2024, reaping

a windfall from a 28% increase in the price of gold during the

half-year period.

Harmony said it would pay an interim dividend of 2.27 rand

per share or about 1.4 billion rand, compared to about 1.47 rand

per share paid out a year ago.

($1 = 18.5896 rand)