Harmony's profit jumps on record-high gold prices, copper plans advance

Aug 28 (Reuters) - Harmony Gold HARJ.J, 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.N 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 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 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)