Media releases

DRDGOLD reflects on a favourable year during a positive gold price climate Embedding sustainable development is a compelling differentiator

Details

Published: Monday, 28 October 2024 15:09

Johannesburg, South Africa. 28 October 2024. DRDGOLD Limited (JSE: DRD, A2X, NYSE: DRD) Chairman Tim Cumming, and CEO Niël Pretorius, in the Company’s Annual Integrated Report (AIR) 2024 leadership review released today, reflect on a favourable FY2024.

Although the company missed its volume throughput target by 17% due to a delay in the commissioning of new reclamation sites at Ergo, a steady performance from FWGR together with higher grades from several clean-up sites helped to soften the impact and 93% of planned gold output was achieved.

“As an unhedged producer, we also enjoyed the full benefit of the higher gold price of R1 248 679/kg, received over the year. This increased year-on-year revenue by 14% to R6 239.7 million. In addition, after paying both the final dividend declared at the end of FY2023 as well as the half-year interim dividend in December 2023 totalling R731.7 million, income tax of R72.5 million, and re-investing R2 985.7 million in capital projects (which included the 60MW solar power plant and the 160MWh battery energy storage system (BESS)), we ended the year with a positive cash balance of R521.5 million,” DRDGOLD leadership said.

Ergo’s new solar plant is one of the Company’s four large projects aimed at extending its operations. Added to this is a DRDGOLD 160MWh BESS, which is currently under development and is expected to be fully completed by the end of this month.

“We believe that the embedding of sustainable development in our operating and financial construct is a compelling differentiator for DRDGOLD in an industry where the sustainability of ESG is being questioned ever more by the investor market for weighing down the financial bottom line,” commented DRDGOLD leadership.

The DRDGOLD AIR 2024 highlights the Company’s FY2024 sustainable value creation against six criteria – financial, operational, growth, people, environmental, societal:

• Operating profit of R2 081.3 million, and free cash outflow of R1 197.4 million, considering the capital investment of R 2 985.7 million
• 17 uninterrupted years of paying a dividend
• Gold production of 5 002kg from 22.3 million tonnes at an average yield of 0.225g/t
• R40.8 million spent on environmental management with 41ha of land clearance applications submitted to the National Nuclear Regulator for approval.
• R51.3 million invested in social and economic development
• One fatality (the first in five years), a lost time injury frequency rate and reportable injury frequency rate of 1.15 and 0.46 respectively
• The 60MW solar power plant at Ergo has been substantially completed, with the integration of the 160MWh BESS underway
• Construction of the Regional Tailings Storage Facility at FWGR is underway

The Company’s capital projects are central to its Vision 2028 and are designed to establish the infrastructure required to increase the combined throughput capacity of our Ergo and FWGR operations to 3 million tonnes per month, up from the current 2.15 million tonnes, and to increase the technical capacity to produce approximately 6 tonnes of gold per year, up from our current planned output of approximately 5 tonnes.

The Company estimates the total capital investment required to deliver Vision 2028 at approximately R10 billion spread over the next four years.

Note to editors:
DRDGOLD’s full report suite for FY2024 comprising the AIR, Annual Financial Statements, Notice of Annual General Meeting and ESG Fact Sheet can be accessed on the Company’s website under Reports and results. In compliance with the United States federal securities laws, DRDGOLD is expected to file its annual report on Form 20-F (Form 20-F) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, 30 October 2024. The Form 20-F may also be accessed electronically from the SEC website and DRDGOLD’s website from or about Wednesday, 30 October 2024.

Forward-looking statements
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 prolonged 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 Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2024, which will be filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on or about 30 October 2024. 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 the occurrence of unanticipated events. Any forward-looking statement included in this report has not been reviewed or reported on by DRDGOLD’s auditors.

Investor and media relations queries:
R&A Strategic Communications
Jane Kamau
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.