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Gold Fields Tries to Divide and Conquer

Gold Fields is going short on South Africa and long on irony. The miner said Thursday it will spin off a new entity called Sibanye Gold. "Sibanye" means "we are one" in the Xhosa language—which is about as far away from capturing the underlying rationale for the move as possible. Still, it at least hints at the fact that Gold Fields' fundamental problems are shared by gold miners everywhere.

Sibanye houses two old,...

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