Media releases

DRDGOLD bolsters DRDGOLD SA board, senior management team

Details

Published: Tuesday, 08 August 2006 02:00

DRDGOLD SA has confirmed the appointment of Niel Pretorius (39) as Chief Executive Officer and announced that of Craig Barnes (35) as an Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer.
Johannesburg, South Africa. 8 August 2006. DRDGOLD Limited (JSE: DRD; NASDAQ: DROOY) – bringing young, professional expertise and experience to the Board and senior management team of its 85%-held subsidiary, DRDGOLD South African Operations Limited (DRDGOLD SA) – has confirmed the appointment of Niel Pretorius (39) as Chief Executive Officer and announced that of Craig Barnes (35) as an Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer.

The company has also announced the appointment of Advocate Louisa Zondo, Legal Counsel for South African Airways and former CEO of the National Nuclear Regulator, as a Non-Executive Director and Ben Nyirenda (43), Head of New Business for DRDGOLD SA, as Alternate Director to Non-Executive Director John Sayers.

DRDGOLD SA, a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) company, is 85% owned by DRDGOLD and 15% by Khumo Gold, a wholly owned subsidiary of Khumo Bathong Holdings (Pty) Limited (KBH). DRDGOLD SA wholly owns the South African-based Blyvooruitzicht (Blyvoor) and East Rand Proprietary Mines (ERPM) gold mining operations and the Crown Gold Recoveries (CGR) surface retreatment operation. These operations account for 50% of DRDGOLD’s total production, together producing approximately one tonne of gold a month and employing some 6 500 people.

Pretorius, who is also DRDGOLD’s Group Legal Counsel, has been acting CEO of DRDGOLD SA since 1 February 2006, in the place of Dr Paseka Ncholo, Chairman of KBH, who stood down due to other business commitments.

Other members of the DRDGOLD SA Board are: Mark Wellesley-Wood (55), Chief Executive Officer of DRDGOLD; John Sayers (60), Chief Financial Officer of DRDGOLD; Louis Lamsley (58), Chief Operating Officer of DRDGOLD SA; Andrew Weir (42), General Manager: Human Resources of DRDGOLD Limited; and Thulo Mogotsi (38), an Executive Director of KBH.

Other senior appointments announced by DRDGOLD are:

• Mark Munroe (37), former General Manager of Blyvoor, who becomes CEO of a new entity, DRDGOLD Capital, which will drive DRDGOLD’s growth strategy in Africa, outside South Africa;
• Collie Russouw (47), former Mine Manager at Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited’s Virginia Operations, who becomes General Manager at Blyvoor; and
• Henry Gouws (37), former Operations Manager at CGR, who becomes General Manager at CGR.

Note to editors: brief biographies on each of the new appointees accompany this media
release.

Biographies:

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 13 years’ experience in the mining industry.

Louisa Zondo (B Proc, LLB, Master of Laws) is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa and is currently employed by South African Airways as General Counsel. Her previous posts include Chief Executive Officer of the National Nuclear Regulator, Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation and Deputy Executive Director of the Constitutional Assembly, responsible for legal and liaison functions.

Craig Clinton Barnes (B Com, B Compt Hons) is a chartered accountant and joined DRDGOLD Limited as Group Financial Accountant in August 2004. Prior to this, he was Head of Financial Reporting for the Liberty Group.

Hurwa Bernard (Ben) Nyirenda (B Sc Hons, M Sc, MBA, B Eng Hons, Pr Eng, Mine Manager’s Certificate) has 26 years’ experience in the mining industry, in both the gold and diamond sectors. Educated in Malawi, England and South Africa, he joined DRDGOLD in May 2004 as a Production Manager. He also has experience in the financial management and consulting fields.

Mark Munroe (B Com, National Higher Diploma Metalliferous Mining, Mine Manager’s Certificate) joined DRDGOLD in 2002 and was appointed General Manager of Blyvoor in September 2004. Previously he was Manager: New Business and Growth Projects. He has 20 years’ experience in the mining industry.

Collie Russouw, (B Tech Mining Engineering, National Diploma in Metalliferous Mining, National Higher Diploma in Metalliferous Mining) was previously Mine Manager at Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited’s Virginia Operations. He has held various mining-related positions within Harmony and GenGold/Gold Fields, during a career spanning 25 years.

Henry Gouws (National Higher Diploma in Extraction Metallurgy, Management Development Programme: UNISA) was appointed Operations Manager of CGR, a wholly owned subsidiary of DRDGOLD SA, on 1 January 2006. He has a total of 18 years’ experience in the mining industry.

For further information, please contact
Ilja Graulich
Strategic Development Officer
+27 11 219 8700 (t)
+27 83 604 0820 (m)
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

James Duncan
Russell & Associates
+27 11 880 3924 (t)
+27 82 892 8052 (m)
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DRDGOLD is an intermediate unhedged gold producer with mining interests in South Africa as well as Australasia. The company’s production profile is split equally between the two regions.

DRDGOLD has a primary listing on the JSE Limited (JSE: DRD) and secondary listings on NASDAQ (DROOY), the London Stock Exchange 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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Disclaimer:
Many factors could cause the 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 licences or other governmental approvals, changes in DRDGOLD's competitive position, changes in business strategy, any major disruption in production at 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 2005, which we filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on 15 December 2005 on Form 20-F. 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.