South Africa's Gold Fields also said it had temporarily halted construction of a new mine in Peru due to an illegal blockade, but this was not expected to result in a major delay to finishing the project.
The group said earnings per share for the three months to end-September, excluding the effects of financial instruments and foreign debt, rose to 142 South African cents from a restated 111 cents the previous quarter.
The firm was expected to post a 36 percent rise in earnings to 146 cents from the previously reported 108 cents, according to the average forecast of seven analysts polled by Reuters. Their estimates were in a range of 130-187 cents.
The company -- which has mines in South Africa, Australia, Ghana and Venezuela -- said gold production fell 1 percent to 1.005 million ounces from the previous quarter.
The firm said it expected output and costs in the current second quarter to be similar to those in the first quarter.
Gold Fields shares, which have gained around 20 percent this year, added 0.73 percent to 134.50 rand by 0725 GMT, compared with a 0.3 percent gain in the local gold mining index.
COSTS JUMP
Unit cash costs during the quarter jumped 12.6 percent to 79,862 rand per kg from a restated 70,908 rand/kg.
The group said it had changed its accounting policy on cash costs to be in line with its South African peers and would now capitalise ore development costs. This had effectively cut reported cash costs by around 9,000 rand per kg.
"Across the board we're facing immense challenges on the cost side and keeping cost increases in the mining sector below national PPI (producer price index) inflation is going to be a huge challenge for us," Chief Executive Ian Cockerill told a conference call.
South African costs rose partly due to a 6 percent wage increase, and overseas costs were affected by a power shortage in Ghana, forcing the firm to use diesel generators that cost an extra $1.5 million in the last three weeks of the quarter.
Cockerill said an illegal road blockade erected 10 days ago near its Cerro Corona project in Peru had temporarily halted construction there.
But the company had obtained a court injunction against the protest and authorities were expected to soon remove it.
"Our view is that within the next few days we'll start to see the project coming back under construction," Cockerill said.
"It seems to have been instigated by political factions ahead of the local mayoral elections ... I don't think it's going to have any material impact on the delay of the project."
The group gave the green light last December for the $227 million gold and copper project, which is expected to produce around 2.3 million ounces of gold and 412,000 tonnes of copper over its 15-year life, averaging around 150,000 ounces of gold and 27,000 tonnes of copper per year.
Operating profit rose 6 percent to 1.99 billion rand, with a weaker rand helping to offset higher costs. A softer rand increases the income from dollar-denominated gold when translated into local currency.
Gold Fields sold its gold for an average of 142,035 rand per kg during the quarter, up 10 percent versus the previous three months, even though the dollar gold price fell slightly.
