Independent Auditor's Assurance Report on the Selected Sustainability Information in Gold Fields Limited Integrated Annual Report

To the Directors of Gold Fields Limited

We have undertaken an assurance engagement in respect of the selected sustainability information, as described below, and presented in the 2023 Integrated Annual Report (the ‘Company’, “Gold Fields” or “you”) for the year ended 31 December 2023 (the Report). This engagement was conducted by a multidisciplinary team including specialists with relevant experience in sustainability reporting.

Subject Matter

We have been engaged to provide a reasonable assurance opinion and a limited assurance conclusion on the selected sustainability information listed below. The selected sustainability information described below has been prepared in accordance with the Company’s reporting criteria that accompanies the sustainability information on the relevant pages of the Report (the accompanying reporting criteria).

Reasonable assurance

Number	Selected sustainability information	Unit of measurement	Boundary	Page reference
Scope – Non-financial indicators Gold Fields Group
1	Total CO2-equivalent emissions, Scope 1 – 2	ktCO2e	Gold Fields Group	11, 71
2	Total CO2-equivalent emissions, Scope 3	ktCO2e	Gold Fields Group	71
3	Energy consumption	PJ	Gold Fields Group	9, 71
4	Total CO2-equivalent emissions avoided from initiatives	ktCO2e	Gold Fields Group	71
5	Total energy saved from initiatives	PJ	Gold Fields Group	71
6	Number of environmental incidents – Level 2 and serious incidents (Level 3 – 5)	Number of incidents	Gold Fields Group	11, 55, 67
7	Total water withdrawal	GL	Gold Fields Group	9, 69
8	Total water withdrawal per tonnes processed	L/tonne	Gold Fields Group	69
9	Freshwater withdrawal	GL	Gold Fields Group	69
10	Percentage of water recycled or reused	%	Gold Fields Group	11, 55, 69
11	Total water consumed (withdrawal – discharge)	GL	Gold Fields Group	69
12	Number of cases of Silicosis reported	Number of cases	Gold Fields Group	11, 41
13	Number of cases of Noise Induced Hearing Loss reported (NIHL)	Number of cases	Gold Fields Group	41
14	Number of cases of Malaria tested positive per annum (Ghana only)	Number of positive cases	West Africa	42
15	Number of South African and West African (Ghana) employees in the HAART programme (cumulative)	Number of employees	South Africa and West Africa	42
16	Percentage of South African and West African (Ghana) workforce on the voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) programme	Percentage of workforce	South Africa and West Africa	42
17	Total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR): Employees, Contractors, Total	Rate	Gold Fields Group	40
18	Serious injuries	Number of serious injuries	Gold Fields Group	6, 11, 19, 37, 39, 40, 55
19	Lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR): Employees, Contractors, Total	Rate	Gold Fields Group	40
20	Near miss incidents	Number of near miss incidents	Gold Fields Group	39
21	Total socio-economic development (SED) spend	USD	Gold Fields Group	9, 32, 33, 56, 59
22	Host community workforce (number)	Number (employees + contractors)	Gold Fields Group	58
23	Percentage of host community workforce employment of total workforce	Percentage	Gold Fields Group	11, 38, 58
24	Host community procurement spend (USD) and percentage of host community procurement spend (of total procurement spend)	USD Percentage	Gold Fields Group	11, 56, 58
25	Group Host Community Value Creation and Host Community Value Creation as a % of total value creation	USD Percentage	Gold Fields Group	33, 55, 56, 57
26	Total value created and distributed (by region, stakeholder and total)	USD	Gold Fields Group	32, 34, 56, 57
27	Whether Gold Fields’ assertions relating to the ICMM Subject Matters (Subject Matters 2 and 4) are fairly presented in the Report, in all material respects, in accordance with the reporting criteria	Qualitative	Gold Fields Group	35

Mining  Charter

Selected sustainability information	Unit	Boundary	Page reference
Employment equity
HDSAs in management (in proportion to applicable demographics) made up of:
Board: 50% black persons with exercisable voting rights, of which 20% must be black women	Board: Percentage black persons	South Deep	65
	Board: Percentage black women	South Deep	65
Executive/top management: 50% black persons of which 15% must be black women	Exec: Percentage black persons	South Deep	65
	Exec: Percentage black women	South Deep	65
Senior: 50% black persons of which 15% must be black women	Senior: Percentage black persons	South Deep	65
	Senior: Percentage black women	South Deep	65
Middle: 60% black persons of which 20% must be black women	Middle: Percentage black persons	South Deep	65
	Middle: Percentage black women	South Deep	65
Junior: 70% black persons of which 25% must be black women	Junior: Percentage black persons	South Deep	65
	Junior: Percentage black women	South Deep	65
Employees with disabilities: 1.5% as a percentage of all employees	Disabilities: Percentage	South Deep	65
Core/critical skills: 50% black persons	Core skills: Percentage	South Deep	65

Inclusive procurement	Unit	Boundary	Page reference
Mining goods
21% by HDPs owned and controlled company	Percentage procured from HDPs owned and controlled company	South Deep	64
5% by women OR by young owned and controlled company	Percentage women OR by young owned and controlled company	South Deep	64
44% by BEE compliant company	Percentage procured from BEE-compliant company	South Deep	64
Mining services
80% of procurement spend on services (excluding non-discretionary spend) must be sourced from South African companies, proportioned as follows:
50% on HDPs owned and controlled company	Percentage discretionary spend on HDPs owned and controlled company	South Deep	64
15% on women owned and controlled company	Percentage discretionary spend on women owned and controlled company	South Deep	64
5% on youth	Percentage discretionary spend on youth	South Deep	64
10% on BEE compliant company	Percentage discretionary spend on BEE compliant company	South Deep	64
Research and Development	R-value of spend	South Deep	64
Research and Development budget spent of which 70% must be spent on SA-based R&D entities	% of spend on R&D entities	South Deep	64

Limited assurance

Number	Selected sustainability information	Unit of measurement	Boundary	Page reference
Scope – Non-financial indicators Gold Fields Group
1	Total CO2-equivalent emissions, Scope 3 – For the financial year ended 31 December 2022	ktCO2e	Gold Fields Group	71
2	Percentage of women employee representation as of 31 December 2023	Percentage of women employeesas of 31 December 2023	Gold Fields Group	52
3	Reduction of absolute Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions (carbon abatement) through renewable projects	ktCO2e	Gold Fields Group	52
4	Percentage of water recycled or reused	Percentage	Gold Fields Group	52

We refer to this as the “selected sustainability information”. 

Management’s responsibilities 

The Executive Vice President: Sustainable Development, representing management and Gold Fields Limited, is responsible for the selection, preparation and presentation of the selected sustainability information in accordance with the accompanying reporting criteria as set out at www.goldfields.com/sustainability-performance.php (the “Reporting Criteria”).

This responsibility includes:

• the identification of stakeholders and stakeholder requirements, material issues, commitments with respect to sustainability performance, and
• the design, implementation and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation of the Report that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Management are also responsible for determining the appropriateness of the measurement and reporting criteria in view of the intended users of the selected sustainability information and for ensuring that those criteria are publicly available to the Report users.

Inherent limitations  

Non-financial performance information is subject to more inherent limitations than financial information, given the characteristics of the subject matter and the methods used for determining, calculating, sampling and estimating such information. The absence of a significant body of established practices on which to draw allows for the selection of different but acceptable measurement techniques which can result in materially different measurements and can impact comparability. Qualitative interpretations of relevance, materiality and the accuracy of data are subject to individual assumptions and judgements. The precision of different measurement techniques may also vary. Furthermore, the nature and methods used to determine such information, as well as the measurement criteria and the precision thereof, may change over time.

In particular, where the information relies on carbon and other emissions conversion factors derived by independent third parties, or internal laboratory results, our assurance work will not include examination of the derivation of those factors and other third party or laboratory information.

Our Independence and Quality Management

We have complied with the independence and other ethical requirements of the Code of Professional Conduct for Registered Auditors, issued by the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors’ (IRBA Code), which is founded on fundamental principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour. The IRBA Code is consistent with the corresponding sections of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards).

The firm applies the International Standard on Quality Management 1, Quality Management for Firms that Perform Audits or Reviews of Financial Statements, or Other Assurance or Related Services Engagements, which requires the firm to design, implement and operate a system of quality management, including policies or procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Our responsibility

Our responsibility is to express either a reasonable assurance opinion or limited assurance conclusion on the selected sustainability information as set out in the Subject Matter paragraph, based on the procedures we have performed and the evidence we have obtained.  We conducted our assurance engagement in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (Revised),  Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information (ISAE 3000 (Revised)), and, in respect of greenhouse gas emissions, International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3410, Assurance Engagements on Greenhouse Gas Statements (ISAE 3410) issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. These Standards require that we plan and perform our engagement to obtain the appropriate level of assurance about whether the selected sustainability information are free from material misstatement.

The procedures performed in a limited assurance engagement vary in nature and timing, and are less in extent than for a reasonable assurance engagement. As a result the level of assurance obtained in a limited assurance engagement is substantially lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had we performed a reasonable assurance engagement.

(a) Reasonable assurance

A reasonable assurance engagement in accordance with ISAE 3000 (Revised) ,and ISAE 3410, involves performing procedures to obtain evidence about the measurement of the selected sustainability information and related disclosures in the Report. The nature, timing and extent of procedures selected depend on the auditor’s professional judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the selected sustainability information, whether due to fraud or error.

In making those risk assessments we have considered internal control relevant to the Company’s preparation of the selected sustainability information.  A reasonable assurance engagement also includes:

• Evaluating the appropriateness of quantification methods, reporting policies and internal guidelines used and the reasonableness of estimates made by the Company;
• Assessing the suitability in the circumstances of the Company’s use of the applicable reporting criteria as a basis for preparing the selected sustainability information; and
• Evaluating the overall presentation of the selected sustainability performance information.

We believe that the evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our reasonable assurance opinion.

(b) Limited assurance

A limited assurance engagement undertaken in accordance with ISAE 3000 (Revised), and ISAE 3410, involves assessing the suitability in the circumstances of the Company’s use of its reporting criteria as the basis of preparation for the selected sustainability information, assessing the risks of material misstatement of the selected sustainability information whether due to fraud or error, responding to the assessed risks as necessary in the circumstances, and evaluating the overall presentation of the selected sustainability information. 

A limited assurance engagement is substantially less in scope than a reasonable assurance engagement in relation to both risk assessment procedures, including an understanding of internal control, and the procedures performed in response to the assessed risks. Accordingly, for the selected sustainability information where limited assurance was obtained, we do not express a reasonable assurance opinion about whether the Company’s selected sustainability information have been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the accompanying reporting criteria. 

The procedures we performed were based on our professional judgement and included inquiries, observation of processes followed, inspection of documents, analytical procedures, evaluating the appropriateness of quantification methods and reporting policies, and agreeing or reconciling with underlying records.

Given the circumstances of the engagement, in performing the procedures listed above we:

• Interviewed management to obtain an understanding of the internal control environment, risk assessment process and information systems relevant to the sustainability reporting process;
• Inspected documentation to corroborate the statements of management in our interviews;
• Tested the processes and systems to generate, collate, aggregate, monitor and report the selected sustainability information;
• Performed a controls walkthrough of identified key controls;
• Inspected supporting documentation on a sample basis and performed analytical procedures to evaluate the data generation and reporting processes against the reporting criteria;
• Evaluated the reasonableness and appropriateness of significant estimates and judgments made by management in the preparation of the selected sustainability information; and
• Evaluated whether the selected sustainability information presented in the Report are consistent with our overall knowledge and experience of sustainability management and performance at the Company.

Reasonable Assurance Opinion and Limited Assurance Conclusion

(a) Reasonable assurance opinion

In our opinion and subject to the inherent limitations outlined elsewhere in this report, the selected sustainability information set out in the Subject Matter paragraph above for the year ended 31 December 2023 are prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the reporting criteria.

(b) Limited assurance conclusion

Based on the procedures we have performed and the evidence we have obtained, and subject to the inherent limitations outlined elsewhere in this report, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the selected sustainability information as set out the Subject Matter paragraph above for the year ended 31 December 2023 are not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the  reporting criteria.

Other Matter

The maintenance and integrity of Gold Fields Limited’s website is the responsibility of Gold Fields Limited’s management.  Our procedures did not involve consideration of these matters and, accordingly we accept no responsibility for any changes to either the information in the Report or our independent assurance report that may have occurred since the initial date of presentation on Gold Fields Limited’s website.

Restriction of liability

Our work has been undertaken to enable us to express a reasonable assurance opinion and limited assurance conclusion on the selected sustainability information to the directors of the Company in accordance with the terms of our engagement, and for no other purpose. We do not accept or assume liability to any party other than the Company, for our work, for this report, or for the conclusion we have reached.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.
Director: Oswald Wentworth
Registered Auditor

Johannesburg, South Africa

28 March 2024