In the media
29 July 2021
Risk Management is an ESG imperative
There is a close correlation between sustainable development and environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns, says South African gold producer DRDGOLD CEO Niël Pretorius
15 July 2021
DRDGOLD says copper elution circuit at its Far West Gold Recoveries expects additional 1.2kg to 1.8kg of gold per month
DRDGOLD Limited reports that the new copper elution circuit at its Far West Gold Recoveries (FWGR) surface retreatment operation southwest of Johannesburg, is expected to deliver an additional 1.2 kilograms (kg) to 1.8kg of gold per month. The company said the additional gold would otherwise have been lost to refining charges.
14 July 2021
Copper comes a cropper at DRDGold’s Far West
A new R12-million copper elution circuit at DRDGold’s Far West Gold Recoveries (FWGR) surface retreatment operation is expected to deliver an additional 1.2 kg to 1.8 kg of gold a month that would otherwise have been lost to refining charges. FWGR, south-west of Johannesburg, is currently retreating material reclaimed from the Driefontein No.5 dam. The material reclaimed contains high levels of copper which competes with gold and co-adsorbs on to activated carbon. Copper and gold are removed from the carbon and subsequently recovered together in the electrowinning process.
29 April 2021
DRDGOLD's Far West Gold Recoveries project
DRDGOLD's acquisition of Sibanye-Stillwater's (Sibanye's) West Rand Tailings Retreatment Project assets was finalised on July 31, 2018. Following the successful implementation of the transaction between the two companies, Sibanye owned 38.05% of the issued share capital of DRDGOLD.
16 February 2021
Cash-flush DRDGold plans ‘bold’ growth
The company, which is majority owned by Sibanye-Stillwater, a major platinum group metals (PGM) and gold producer, had cash of R2.17bn compared with R1.7bn at the end of its 2020 financial year in June. The level of cash and the outlook for the gold price coupled with being debt-free has positioned DRDGold to take a “bolder view” of its plans to expand its Far West Gold Recoveries operations near Carletonville, said CEO Niël Pretorius.
16 February 2021
SA Govt. ideology standing in the way of DRDGOLD’s massive growth plans, warns CEO
Said Pretorius: “The business is performing in a very stable way. It has good prospects and it will continue to pay dividends for as long as we are able to maintain this model”. But he stressed future expansions would remain in line with management’s current conservative strategy and would be dependent on both movements in the gold price and political and regulatory developments within South Africa which affected the country’s attraction as an investment destination.
16 February 2021
DRDGold profit leaps on increase in gold price
Okay, volume throughput was still satisfactory; we are happy with the volumes that we managed to get. We are mining a very low-grade resource, though. And, if you multiply everything by north of two million tonnes per month – our production cycle – a difference in the third decimal could have a 10/15/20 kg difference at the end of that period. So, it’s by and large the head grade that went into the plant. I’m happy that our metallurgical efficiency and plant setup, but those were under control. Plus, we are under. [1:56]. It’s really a function of the quality of the ore body, and it comes, and it goes. There are some of the higher-grade types that have been mined out, but on the whole, it is something that does come and go.
16 February 2021
Environmental rehabilitation: Watch this space as DRDGold doubles operating profit
Asked during an online results presentation if this business model could be extended elsewhere, or if the company had considered this, CEO Niel Pretorius responded: “We look at operations from time to time, we don’t have anything worth mentioning at this stage on the radar just yet, but we certainly are not closing our minds to anything. “We do believe that the shortcut to some of the operations outside of South Africa would be through our group association with Sibanye-Stillwater.”
16 February 2021
DRDGold flies sky high on numbers never seen before
“We’ve never seen numbers like this. I mean the cash operating profit was R1.4-billion and earnings R950-million. These are numbers over a six-month period. It’s really been a period where a lot of things went right for us,” DRDGold CEO Niël Pretorius told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview on Tuesday after the Johannesburg- and New York-listed company reported 129%-higher headline earnings a share. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)
16 February 2021
DRDGold declares 60%-higher dividend on soaring earnings
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Surface gold recovery company DRDGold has declared an interim cash dividend on soaring six-month earnings.
05 January 2021
A rocky year for almost every firm on the JSE, except the mining companies
Covid-19 took its toll on global economies and SA’s in particular – that much can be seen in the performance of SA’s blue-chip banking, retail and industrial stocks, which were hammered. Those that recover and thrive will be the companies with the strongest balance sheets and best management.