Media releases

DRDGOLD suspends operations at its North West operations’ no 2 shaft following further earth tremors

Details

Published: Thursday, 17 March 2005 02:00

DRDGOLD yesterday suspended operations at its North West Operations No. 2 Shaft following a further tremor, which knocked out three production panels.

Johannesburg, South Africa. 17 March 2005. DRDGOLD Limited(JSE: DRD; NASDAQ: DROOY; ASX: DRD; POM SoX: DRD) yesterday suspended operations at its North West Operations (“NWO”)No. 2 Shaft following a further tremor, which knocked out three production panels.

No one was seriously injured in the tremor.

A full risk assessment of No. 2 Shaft is being conducted by the NWO’s rock engineering department.

Operations at the NWO No. 5 Shaft remain suspended following an earthquake last Wednesday, 9 March 2004 that registered 5.3 on the Richter Scale.

Preliminary indications are that the damage to the No.5 shaft area is extensive. An overall assessment from a risk and financial perspective is currently under investigation at No.5 shaft.

DRDGOLD’s NWO are currently undergoing an operational review in terms of Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act after the operations recorded losses exceeding R270 million in the six months to 31 December 2004.

The Management Board of the NWO is awaiting a report on the effects of the business interruptions caused by the tremors and the sustainability of the operations and will review the report as a matter of urgency.

Together, the No. 2 and No. 5 Shafts account for 30% of NWO’s total production and employ 1 905 people.

DRDGOLD’s interests in the NWO are held through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Buffelsfontein Gold Mines Limited.

Queries:

South Africa
Investor and Media Relations
Ilja Graulich, DRDGOLD
+27 11 381 7826 (office)
+27 83 604 0820 (mobile)

James Duncan, Russell & Associates
+27 11 880 3924 (office)
+27 82 892 8052 (mobile)

North America
Investor and Media Relations
Barbara Cano, Breakstone & Ruth International
+1 646-536-7015 (office)
+1 917-861-2530 (mobile)

Australasia
Investor and Media Relations
Paul Downie, Porter Novelli
+61 893 861 233 (office)
+61 414 947 129 (mobile)

United Kingdom/Europe
Investor and Media Relations
Phil Dexter, St James's Corporate Services
+44 20 7499 3916 (office)
+44 779 863 4398

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DRDGOLD is the world’s 9th largest primary gold producer, with mines in South Africa as well as Australasia, a key target for growth. For fiscal year 2004, DRDGOLD produced 905 000 ounces of gold, up from under 100 000 ounces a year in 1997, when current operations were amalgamated.

DRDGOLD has primary listings on the Johannesburg (JSE:DRD)and Australian (ASX:DRD) stock exchanges and secondary listings on NASDAQ (DROOY), the London and Port Moresby stock exchanges and the Paris and Brussels Bourses. Its shares are also traded on the regulated unofficial market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Berlin OTC Market.

For more information, please visit www.drdgold.com

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or other financial performance, including forward-looking statements and information relating to DRDGOLD that are based on the beliefs of management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. When used in this press release, the words "estimate", "project", "believe", "anticipate", "intend", "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect management¹s current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. These statements include the Company's ability to continue as a going concern, its ability to successfully restructure the South African operations and, in particular the North West operations, its ability to significantly reduce its costs in South Africa, its ability to fund its future commitments, including the restructure of the North West Operations.

Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, adverse changes or uncertainties in general economic conditions in the markets we serve, a drop in the gold price, a continuing strengthening of the Rand against the Dollar, regulatory developments adverse to DRDGOLD or difficulties in maintaining necessary licenses or other governmental approvals, changes in DRDGOLD¹s competitive position, changes in business strategy, any major disruption in production at our key facilities or adverse changes in foreign exchange rates and various other factors.

These risks include, without limitation, those described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" included in our annual report for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2004, which we filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on 29 November 2004 on Form 20-F, as amended by the Form 20-F/A filed on December 3, 2004, and those detailed from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this report or to the occurrence of unanticipated events.