Gold Fields unveils South Deep turnaround plan, earnings up sharply

South African bullion producer Gold Fields on Thursday announced a rise in profits and a long-awaited plan to make its South Deep mine profitable, with a production target of 500,000 ounces a year. * Gold Fields posted normalised earnings of $191 million forthe year ended December 2016 compared with normalised earnings(not losses) of $45 million for the year ended December 2015. * This was in line with what the company had flagged to themarket, primarily driven by an increase in the US$ gold pri