Media releases

DRDGOLD SA board appointed

Details

Published: Tuesday, 17 January 2006 02:00

DRDGOLD has announced the appointment of a Board of Directors for its recently constituted, 85%-owned subsidiary, DRDGOLD South African Operations (Pty) Limited (DRDGOLD SA). Johannesburg, South Africa. 17 January 2006. DRDGOLD Limited (JSE: DRD; NASDAQ: DROOY; ASX: DRD; POM SoX: DRD) has announced the appointment of a Board of Directors for its recently constituted, 85%-owned subsidiary, DRDGOLD South African Operations (Pty) Limited (DRDGOLD SA).

The Board of DRDGOLD SA comprises: Dr Paseka Ncholo (Executive Chairman), Louis Lamsley (Chief Operating Officer), Mark Wellesley-Wood, John Sayers, Niel Pretorius and Andrew Weir.

Lamsley (57) was previously Regional General Manager of DRDGOLD Limited’s South African operations.

Wellesley-Wood (54) is Chief Executive Officer of DRDGOLD Limited, Sayers (59) Chief Financial Officer, Pretorius (38) Group Legal Counsel and General Manager Corporate Services, and Weir (41) General Manager: Human Resources.

Ncholo (42), whose appointment as Executive Chairman of DRDGOLD SA was announced recently, is Chairman of Khumo Bathong Holdings (Pty) Limited (KBH) and former Non-Executive Chairman of DRDGOLD Limited. KBH holds the balance of 15% in DRDGOLD SA.

Senior management appointments within DRDGOLD SA have also been announced:

Ben Nyirenda (42), previously Regional Projects Manager for DRDGOLD Limited’s South African Operations, has been appointed Head of New Business for DRDGOLD SA.

Charles Symons (51), previously Operations Manager for the Crown surface operations of Crown Gold Recoveries (CGR), has been appointed Regional General Manager of CGR. CGR – comprising ERPM and the Crown surface operations – was previously a 60:40 joint venture between DRDGOLD Limited and KBH, is now wholly owned by DRDGOLD SA.

DRDGOLD Limited executive appointment

DRDGOLD Limited has announced the appointment of Ilja Graulich (33) as Strategic Development Officer for DRDGOLD Limited, reporting to CEO Mark Wellesley-Wood. Graulich will retain his current responsibilities as General Manager: Investor Relations for DRDGOLD Limited.

Note to editors: brief biographies of appointees are attached.

Biographies:

Dr Paseka Ncholo (PhD) is Executive Chairman of DRDGOLD SA and of Khumo Bathong Holdings (Pty) Ltd. Admitted as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa in 1994, he is a former Director-General of the Department of Public Service and Administration in the South African Government and the former Non-Executive Chairman of DRDGOLD Limited.

Louis Charles Lamsley (NTD (Metalliferous Mining), Mine Manager’s Certificate) was appointed Regional General Manager of DRDGOLD’s SA operations in April 2005. He has experience in the South African gold mining industry spanning more than 30 years.

John Sayers (CA (SA and England) B Sc Hons) was appointed Chief Financial Officer and Financial Director in September 2005. Previously Financial Director of Altron from 1989 to 1996, and of Nampak from 1996 to 2004, Sayers has more than 40 years’ financial management experience.

Mark Michael Wellesley Wood (B Sc Mining, CEng) was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of DRDGOLD Limited in May 2000 and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in November 2000. He resigned as Chief Executive Officer and was appointed Executive Chairman on 19 December 2003. He resumed his role as Chief Executive Officer following Dr Ncholo’s appointment as Non-executive Chairman. Mr Wellesley-Wood is a director of Emperor Mines Limited.

Daniel Johannes (Niel) Pretorius (B Proc LLB) was appointed Group Legal Counsel of DRDGOLD Limited in February 2004. A director of Rand Refinery Limited, he has 12 years’ experience in the mining industry.

Andrew Norman Weir (B Soc Sci) was appointed General Manager: Human Resources of DRDGOLD Limitedin April 2005. Mr Weir, who also holds an advanced diploma in labour law, and an MDP has 17 years’ experience in the mining industry.

Charles Methley Symons (B Com, MBL) was appointed Operations Manager of Crown Gold Recoveries’ surface operations) in 1997. He has extensive experience in gold metallurgy, spanning more than 30 years.

Hurwa Bernard (Ben) Nyirenda (B Sc (Hons) M Sc, MBA, B Eng (Hons) Pr Eng, Mine Manager’s Certificate) has 25 years’ experience in the mining industry, in both the gold and diamond sectors. Educated in Malawi, England and South Africa, Mr Nyirenda joined DRDGOLD in May 2004 as a Production Manager. He also has experience in the financial management and consulting fields.

Ilja David Graulich (MBA) was appointed General Manager: Investor Relations for DRDGOLD Limited in February 2003. He has extensive experience in mining and financial journalism. He is a director of Net-Gold Services Limited and of G.M. Network Limited (GoldMoney.com) and an alternate Director of Rand Refinery Limited.

Queries:

South Africa
Investor and Media Relations
Ilja Graulich, DRDGOLD
+27 11 219 8707(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 Group International
+1 646 452 2334 (office)

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 an intermediate unhedged gold producer with mines in South Africa as well as Australasia. The company’s production profile is split equally between its highly leveraged SA operations and its low cost, cash generative offshore mines.

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 us that are based on the beliefs of our management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to our management. When used in this release, the words "estimate", "project", "believe", anticipate", "intend", "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions.

Many factors could cause our 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 us or difficulties in maintaining necessary licenses or other governmental approvals, changes in our 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 29 April 2005 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.