Company announcements

Harmony Gold Mine acquires a stake in Western Areas Limited

March 09, 2006

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Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE: HMY JSE: HAR) today announced that it has acquired a total of 44.99 million shares in Western Areas Limited (“Western Areas” or “the Company”) representing a 29.2% stake in the company. This was done by acquiring 37.37 million shares from Allan Gray and buying a total of 7.62 million shares on the open market.

The acquisition of this significant shareholding in Western Areas provides Harmony with a strategic exposure of 14.6% to South Deep gold mine, which is a 50:50 joint venture between Western Areas Limited and Barrick Gold Corporation. The South Deep gold mine contains a reserve of 29.2 million ounces and a resource of 67 million ounces, which represents one of the biggest high quality gold ore bodies globally.

The average price of this stake was purchased at an 7.4% premium to the 30-day volume weighted average price (“VWAP”) of R41.07. The transaction will be funded through utilising cash of R985 million and a loan facility of R1.0 billion provided by Rand Merchant Bank. Harmony had cash and equivalents of R2.914 billion as stated at the end of the December 2005 quarter. The only outstanding short term debt is a bond repayment of R970 million, which is due in June 2006.

“We see this as a strategic exposure to one of the best ore bodies in the world and we look forward to working with the board of Western Areas on realizing this assets’ full potential. The similarities in ore bodies and mining methods between the South Deep mine and our own Target mine and the lessons we have learned at Target, gives us confidence in our valuation of Western Areas” commented Bernard Swanepoel.

The pro-forma financial effect of this transaction will be announced as soon as possible.

For more details contact:

Bernard Swanepoel
Chief Executive
+27(0)83 303 9922

Philip Kotze
Executive, Investor Relations
+27(0)83 453 0544