Media releases

‘Good foundation’ for DRDGOLD Group recovery: CEO

Details

Published: Thursday, 26 April 2007 02:00

DRDGOLD CEO John Sayers said today that sign-off on the sale of 78.9%-owned Emperor’s stake in the Porgera Joint Venture in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to Barrick Gold Corporation would contribute towards a “good foundation” for DRDGOLD going forward.

Johannesburg, South Africa: 26 April 2007. DRDGOLD Limited (JSE: DRD; NASDAQ: DROOY) CEO John Sayers said today that sign-off on the sale of 78.9%-owned Emperor’s stake in the Porgera Joint Venture in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to Barrick Gold Corporation would contribute towards a “good foundation” for DRDGOLD going forward.

Commenting on DRDGOLD’s results for the quarter ended 31 March 2007, Sayers said that also critical to such a foundation was the return of 74%-held DRDGOLD SA’s operations to ‘an acceptable level of operational stability’, involving a ‘strong focus on cost controls and volumes to ensure an improvement in margins’.

Proceeds from the sale of Emperor’s Porgera interest would allow it to repay its debt in full. Post-sale, Emperor’s key assets would include the wholly owned Tolukuma mine and a 5 000 square kilometre copper/gold exploration portfolio in PNG, and ‘a significant amount of cash on the balance sheet’.

In South Africa, Sayers said, DRDGOLD had reached agreement on the formation of a joint venture company with ASX-listed Mintails Limited to explore for and mine gold and uranium in the Western Rand Goldfield; at ERPM Extension 1, overstoping of the prospect drive on reef would take place during the June quarter to further define the orebody; and at Blyvooruitzicht (Blyvoor), work had begun on defining the uranium resource contained in the mine’s 110 tonnes of slimes and 10 million tonnes of rock dump material available.

While cautioning that the higher gold price had raised expectations ahead of wage negotiations scheduled to begin shortly, Sayers said he expected to report on ‘further progress’ towards DRDGOLD’s recovery in three months’ time.

Group gold production for the March quarter was 21% lower at 103 768oz, reflecting declines in both Australasian and South African production. In Australasia, the decline was due primarily to the discontinuation of operations at Vatukoula in Fiji, while in South Africa a key contributor was a five-day illegal work stoppage at Blyvoor.

Group cash operating profit was 29% lower at R58.5 million; cash operating profit from the continuing Australasian operations was 5% lower at R15.1 million, and that from the South African operations 35% lower at R43.4 million.

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)

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

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DRDGOLD is a medium-sized, unhedged gold producer with investments in South Africa and Australasia.
In South Africa, the company has a 74% interest in DRDGOLD South African Operations (Pty) Limited (DRDGOLD SA), while in Australasia, it has a 78.72% interest in Emperor Mines Limited.
In the 2006 financial year, DRDGOLD SA contributed 60% or 315 976 ounces – of total attributable gold production of 527 401 ounces, and Emperor 211 425 ounces. At 30 June 2006, DRDGOLD’s total attributable resource base was 47.6 million ounces and its total attributable reserves were 8.8 million ounces.
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.