Media releases

DRDGOLD advises of strike action at its ERGO operations

Details

Published: Wednesday, 17 December 2025 17:20

Johannesburg, South Africa. Wednesday, 17 December 2025. DRDGOLD advises that the company received 48 hours’ notice from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) advising that their members intend to embark on protected strike action from Thursday, 18 December 2025 at the company’s Ergo Mining (Proprietary) Limited (ERGO) operations.

The notice follows the finalisation of picketing rules under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on 3 December 2025.

Wage negotiations at ERGO began in July 2025. Since then, the company and organised labour have resolved 23 of the 25 demands tabled at the outset of the process. The two remaining issues relate to wages and profit share.

UASA accepted and signed the wage agreement for its members on Friday, 12 December 2025. The current dispute, and any strike action, therefore, relates only to NUM and AMCU.

The NUM and AMCU have maintained a demand for a double-digit wage increase of 12% across the board and additional profit-related benefits. These demands remain more than three times inflation with CPI at 3.6% and significantly above agreements recently concluded across the gold sector.

ERGO has tabled a strong, sustainable and competitive offer including:

• Guaranteed annual increases of between 6% – 7.5% for each of the next five years, placing the offer above CPI and aligned with, or higher than, recent sector agreements.
• The continuation of one of the most longstanding and generous profit-share schemes in South African mining, with 15% of payroll distributed to employees when performance milestones are achieved.
• A new and additional 2% performance-based incentive, offering employees additional earning potential linked to production, safety and attendance.
• Improvements to the Living Out Allowance and increases to the interest-free housing support scheme.

This offer provides real, multi-year financial benefit to employees while allowing the company to continue reinvesting in long-term projects to extend the operational life of ERGO. This balance is essential to safeguarding jobs and supporting the future viability of the business.

Any industrial action that may follow the 48 hours’ notice of a strike will be governed by the strict picketing rules agreed under the auspices of the CCMA. These rules are in place to ensure safety, prevent intimidation and maintain orderly conduct at and near operational sites. ERGO expects all parties to honour and uphold these rules.

The company has contingency measures in place to maintain production and protect the safety of employees and company assets. ERGO anticipates daily throughput rates of approximately 40 000 tons per day, as opposed to planned 54 000 tons per day, assuming no criminal disruption or intimidation were to occur. No impact is expected on the Far West Gold Recoveries Proprietary Limited operations.

ERGO remains open to further engagement and continues to encourage a resolution that avoids unnecessary financial harm and limits operational disruption.

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