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Gold miner's annual profit up 26%

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Gold price rally drives record dividend payout

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Harmony close to completing $1 bln copper acquisition

Aug 28 (Reuters) - Harmony Gold, South Africa's

biggest gold producer, reported a 26% jump in annual profit on

Thursday, primarily boosted by record-high prices for the

precious metal.

The company posted headline earnings per share of 23.37 rand

($1.33) in the year ended June 30 and said a 27% increase in

average gold prices, along with improved grades at its South

African mines, helped offset a 5% drop in production during the

period.

Gold production declined to 1.48 million ounces in the 2025

financial year, due to bad weather and safety-related stoppages,

Harmony Gold said.

The company declared a dividend of 1.55 rand per share, up

from 0.94 rand last year, returning a record 2.4 billion rand to

shareholders.

Harmony has accelerated its plans to diversify into copper,

whose outlook has been boosted by its importance in the global

transition to cleaner energy technologies.

In May, Harmony agreed to buy Australian miner Mac Copper ( MTAL )

in a deal worth $1.03 billion. The Australian company's

shareholders will vote on August 29 on the transaction, which

Harmony expects to complete in October this year.

Mac Copper ( MTAL ) is Harmony's second copper acquisition in Australia

after it bought the Eva Copper project in Queensland, in 2022, a

mine expected to reach annual production of 55,000-60,000

metric tons from 2028.

"We view copper as a catalyst for us as a business in terms

of making sure that we remain sustainable and that we add higher

margin production to our portfolio," Harmony CEO Beyers Nel told

Reuters in an interview.

Mac Copper's ( MTAL ) CSA mine, situated in New South Wales, produced

41,000 tons of copper last year and Harmony has said acquiring

the producing asset would bring immediate cash returns.

"Copper brings a counter-cyclical diversification to the Harmony

portfolio, we know gold has got a cycle to it, so copper brings

that counter-cyclical protection," Nel said.

($1=17.5632 rand)