In the media

New aspirant South African investors seeking physical gold, uranium - DRDGOLD

[Miningweekly] - There was a growing body of new aspirant investors in old South African mines that were keen on securing direct access to physical gold and uranium irrespective of the cost of difficult deep-level mining in the current rand-constrained economic circumstances, DRDGOLD CEO Niël Pretorius said on Friday.

Interview with Niël Pretorius

JOHANNESBURG - There was a growing body of new aspirant investors in old South African mines that were keen on securing direct access to physical gold and uranium irrespective of the cost of difficult deep-level mining in the current rand-constrained economic circumstances, DRDGOLD CEO Niël Pretorius said on Friday.

Pretorius said during question time after the company’s presentation of the March quarter results that saw cash operating profit rise to R96,9-million, that the key objective of these long-term investors was to take up positions in mining that gave them direct exposure to actual physical gold, which was unlikely ever to be sold through the conventional channels.

Increasingly, also, those same investors were taking a far longer-term view that was inconsistent with what DRDGOLD was used to encountering.

These investors were also looking back into the uranium history of the South African gold mines and requesting samples of gold and uranium tailings to calculate the rate at which companies were stockpiling what they perceived to be a resource.

They were not averse to supporting old gold and uranium businesses over time in order to secure access to a real currency - gold - and a strategic energy mineral - uranium.