Gold Fields fell the most in more than two years in Friday trading after profit missed analyst estimates and it said output would fall due to safety improvements.

"We will not mine if we cannot mine safely," chief executive Nick Holland said on Friday. Output in the quarter through September would fall 5 percent from the preceding one, he added.

Andrew Joannou of Renaissance Specialist Fund Managers said: "That's not good news, but it's required and it's going to stand them in good stead in the long term."

Gold Fields shares fell 10.7 percent to close at R79, the lowest level since 2005.

Holland is reviewing operations after nine people were killed at the South Deep mine on May 1, his first day as chief executive. The workers plunged to their deaths when a cable snapped on an elevator almost 2.9km underground.

Holland said the main shaft at the Kloof mine would be suspended for about six months to replace steelwork, cutting output by as much as 35 percent. Safety improvements at Driefontein would reduce output by about 400kg in the current quarter.

Gold Fields would miss its December target of reaching an annualised production rate of 4 million ounces by "a month or two", Holland said.The company posted net income of R843 million in the June quarter, down 32 percent from the preceding quarter. Headline earnings plunged 29 percent to R1.35 a share, falling short of the R1.60 a share forecast of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

However, headline earnings for the full year climbed 36.5 percent to R2.99 billion.

Production in the three months through June, Gold Fields' fiscal fourth quarter, rose 4.6 percent to 865 000 ounces and cash costs were little changed at $502 an ounce, or R111 315 a kilogram. Annual output fell to 3.64 million ounces from 3.97 million.

Holland faces rising costs for power and labour. The company expects cash costs to jump 18 percent in the current quarter to $590 an ounce.

Gold prices averaged $897.40 an ounce in the quarter under review, 2.9 percent less than in the preceding quarter. The metal hit a record high of $1 032.70 on March 17.

Holland expected the price to increase to more than $1 000 an ounce next year.

Kloof's production should be restored to about 2 000kg a month by February, he said.