Harmony Gold Mine acquires a stake in Western Areas Limited                     
Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited                                             
Registration number 1950/038232/06                                              
Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa                                    
ISIN: ZAE000015228                                                              
Trading Symbols                                                                 
JSE Limited                              HAR                                    
New York Stock Exchange, Inc.            HMY                                    
London Stock Exchange plc                HRM                                    
Euronext Paris                           HG                                     
Euronext Brussels                        HMY                                    
Berlin Stock Exchange                    HAM1                                   
NASDAQ                                   HMY                                    
Harmony Gold Mine acquires a stake in Western Areas Limited                     
Johannesburg, 9 March 2006. 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 a 7.4% premium to the 30-day   
volume weighted average price ("VWAP") of R41.07.  The transaction will be      
funded through utilizing 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 effects of this transaction will be announced as soon as
possible.                                                                       
Issued by Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited                                   
10 March 2006                                                                   
For more details contact:                                                       
Bernard Swanepoel                                                               
Chief Executive                                                                 
on +27(0)83 303 9922                                                            
or                                                                              
Philip Kotze                                                                    
Executive, Investor Relations                                                   
on +27(0)83 453 0544                                                            
Investor Relations Officer                                                      
Vusi Magadana                                                                   
Office: +27 11 684 0149                                                         
Mobile: +27(0)72 157 5986                                                       
vusi.magadana@harmony.co.za                                                     
Debt underwriter                                                                
Rand Merchant Bank                                                              
Merchant Bank                                                                   
Rand Merchant Bank Corporate Finance                                            
Transactional sponsor                                                           
Rand Merchant Bank Corporate Finance                                            
Sponsor                                                                         
Merrill Lynch South Africa (Pty) Limited                                        
The directors of Harmony accept responsibility for the information contained in 
this announcement.  To the best of the knowledge and belief of the directors of 
Harmony (who have taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the case),   
the information contained in this announcement is in accordance with the facts  
and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such information.     
Date: 10/03/2006 07:44:48 AM Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za                     
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