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Royalties | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017
Text block1 [abstract] |
Royalties |
8. | ROYALTIES
|  | UNITED STATES DOLLAR |
|  | 2017 |  |  | 2016 |  |  | 2015 |
South Africa |  |  | (1.8 | ) |  |  | (1.8 | ) |  |  | (1.2 | )
Foreign |  |  | (60.2 | ) |  |  | (76.6 | ) |  |  | (72.7 | )
Total royalties |  |  | (62.0 | ) |  |  | (78.4 | ) |  |  | (73.9 | )
Royalty rates |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
South Africa (effective rate)2 |  |  | 0.5 | % |  |  | 0.5 | % |  |  | 0.5 | %
Australia3 |  |  | 2.5 | % |  |  | 2.5 | % |  |  | 2.5 | %
Ghana4 |  |  | 3.0 | % |  |  | 5.0 | % |  |  | 5.0 | %
Peru5 |  |  | 4.6 | % |  |  | 6.4 | % |  |  | 4.0 | %
| 1 | Included under “Other costs, net” in the consolidated income statement.
| 2 | The Mineral and Petroleum Resource Royalty Act 2008 (“Royalty Act”) was promulgated on 24 November 2008 and became effective from 1 March 2010. The Royalty Act imposes a royalty on refined (mineral resources that have undergone a comprehensive level of beneficiation such as smelting and refining as defined in Schedule 1 of the Act) and unrefined (mineral resources that have undergone limited beneficiation as defined in Schedule 2 of the Act) minerals payable to the state. The royalty in respect of refined minerals (which include gold refined to 99.5% and above and platinum) is calculated by dividing earnings before interest and taxes (“EBIT”) by the product of 12.5 times gross revenue calculated as a percentage, plus an additional 0.5%. EBIT refers to taxable mining income (with certain exceptions such as no deduction for interest payable and foreign exchange losses) before assessed losses but after capital expenditure. A maximum royalty of 5% has been introduced on refined minerals. The effective rate of royalty tax payable for the year ended 31 December 2017 was 0.5% of mining revenue (2016: 0.5% and 2015: 0.5%) equalling the minimum charge per the formula.
| 3 | The Australian operations are subject to a 2.5% (2016: 2.5% and 2015: 2.5%) gold royalty on revenue as the mineral rights are owned by the state.
| 4 | Minerals are owned by the Republic of Ghana and held in trust by the President. During 2016, Gold Fields signed a Development Agreement (“DA”) with the Government of Ghana for both the Tarkwa and Damang mines. This agreement stated that the Ghanaian operations will be subject to a sliding scale for royalty rates, linked to the prevailing gold price (effective 1 January 2017). The sliding scale is as follows:
|  | Average gold price |  |  |  |
|  | Low value |  |  |  |  | High value |  |  | Royalty rate |
|  |  | US$0.00 |  |  | - |  |  | US$1,299.99 |  |  |  | 3.0 | %
|  |  | US$1,300.00 |  |  | - |  |  | US$1,499.99 |  |  |  | 3.5 | %
|  |  | US$1,450.00 |  |  | - |  |  | US$2,299.99 |  |  |  | 4.1 | %
|  |  | US$2,300.00 |  |  | - |  |  | Unlimited |  |  |  | 5.0 | %
During 2016 and 2015, the Ghanaian operations were subject to a 5.0% gold royalty on revenue.
| 5 | The Peruvian operations are subject to a mining royalty calculated on a sliding scale with rates ranging from 1% to 12% of the value of operating profit.

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