South Africa's second largest gold miner Gold Fields on Wednesday announced that it had acquired an extra three million Western Areas shares to take its stake in Western Areas to 29.16 million shares, or 18.9 percent of that company's total issued share capital.

Frankel Consulting brokered the transaction, the group added.

Western Areas owns 50 percent of the South Deep gold mine, which is adjacent to Gold Fields' Kloof Gold mine, near Johannesburg.

Barrick Gold of Canada owns the other 50 percent of South Deep.