South Africa’s Gold Fields says earnings set to double

South African miner Gold Fields Ltd. said Wednesday it expected earnings to roughly double in the first half of 2020 on the back of a surge in the price of gold during the second quarter.

Basic earnings per share “are expected to be between 17.1-18.9 US cents per share, an increase of 90-110 percent” over the 9 cents per share a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Production in January-June was almost unchanged at 1,087 thousand ounces compared with 1,083 in the first half of 2019, it said in a statement.

The Johannesburg-listed company has nine operational mines in Australia, Peru, South Africa and West Africa, as well as a project underway in Chile.

The precious metal, a traditional investor haven at times of uncertainty, has seen price gains of more than 30 percent this year, driven by fears of the impact of COVID-19 on the world’s economy.

Prices on Tuesday hit $2,000 an ounce for the first time.