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Product responsibility
Management approach
DRDGOLD is engaged in an expansive gold production process: exploration, underground mining, surface retreatment, refining and rehabilitation. The company takes its responsibility towards its product very seriously in each area of the production process.
Showing responsibility for a rare and precious metal
Gold is a remarkable precious metal with many uses. It conducts electricity, does not tarnish, is easy to work, can be drawn into wire, hammered into thin sheets, alloys with many other metals, can be melted and cast into complicated shapes and has an alluring colour and lustre. Throughout history, gold has been held in high esteem. From the ancient Pharaohs to Spanish explorers of the New World to modern European monarchies, gold has been used to symbolise power, beauty, purity and accomplishment. Today, we still turn to gold to make our wedding rings, Olympic medals, Oscars, money, crucifixes and other symbols of major importance.
South Africa’s gold mining industry has dominated the world’s gold mining scene for some 120 years. Since records of production were first collected in 1884 until the present day, the South African gold mining sector has produced more than 50 000t of gold – some 33% of all the gold estimated above surface.
Gold and its myriad uses
Jewellery
The properties of gold make it perfect for manufacturing jewellery, alloyed with other metals such as copper, silver and platinum to increase durability. Some 70% of the annual demand for gold is from the jewellery industry, making it far and away the largest end-user of the precious metal.
Investment and coins
Some 13% of the annual demand for gold is for investment in the form of bars and coins.
Governments, individuals and institutions hold investments of gold in the convenient form of bullion.
Gold coins issued in specific weights are popular ways for people to own small volumes of gold for investment. Gold coins are also issued as commemorative items and as such have a collectable and precious metal value. The SA Mint produces several legal tender coins, the best known and most widely sold being the 22-carat Krugerrand.
Electronics
The industrial sector accounts for some 11% of annual demand for gold, the most important industrial use being the manufacture of electronics.
Electronic devices use very low voltages and currents which are easily interrupted by corrosion or tarnish at contact points. Gold is a highly efficient conductor that can carry these tiny currents and remain corrosion-free. A small amount of gold is used in almost every sophisticated electronic device, including cell phones, calculators and global positioning systems. It is also used in television sets and computers.
Dentistry and medicine
Gold is used in dentistry because of its superior performance and aesthetic appeal. It is used because it is chemically inert, nonallergenic and easy to work.
Gold is used to treat a small number of medical conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis and certain cancers. Radioactive gold is also used in diagnosis of cancer by being injected in a colloidal solution that can be tracked as a beta emitter as it passes through the body.
Aerospace
Gold is used extensively in every spacecraft that NASA launches. It is used in circuitry and parts of every spacecraft are fitted with goldcoated polyester film which reflects infrared radiation and hence stabilises spacecraft’s temperature.
Compliance with GRI guidelines
As a producer of such an important and useful metal, it is hardly surprising that DRDGOLD is supportive of the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G3 reporting guidelines, including those related to product responsibility.
DRDGOLD does not produce the final product of a gold bar of 99.9% purity. The company produces doré bars which are approximately 85% pure. The doré bars are then further refined at Rand Refinery Ltd, Germiston in South Africa’s Gauteng province, to achieve the 99.99% purity required by the London Bullion Market Association. Most of the fine gold produced by Rand Refinery goes into gold bars, either 400-ounce good delivery bars or kilo bars or smaller. The gold is then marketed and sold by Rand Refinery, on behalf of DRDGOLD, to customers around the world.
Health and safety impacts
Gold as a metal is benign and there are few, if any, safety and health impacts associated with the final product.
Gold is seldom wasted because it is precious and basically indestructible. Gold lends itself to recycling, with about 15% of annual gold consumption being recycled.
Customer satisfaction and incidents of non-compliance with regulations or voluntary codes
Rand Refinery is the channel through which gold is marketed and sold and thus, DRDGOLD is not involved with the end-users of its product, does not undertake any customer satisfaction surveys or provide product information or labelling.
Marketing and communications
DRDGOLD does not market its product directly and therefore GRI questions relating to marketing communications, customer privacy and compliance are not applicable.