The mining company DRDGold, which owns Far West Gold Recoveries between Carletonville and Fochville and also heads the building of a massive regional tailings dam near Fochville, released excellent financial results on August 21.
The company reported revenue of R6 239.7 million, a total operating profit of R 2 081.3 million and total headline earnings of R1 327.2 million for the financial year that ended on June 30 this year.
Although gold production decreased by 5 per cent to 5 002kg, DRDGold was still able to declare a final cash dividend of 20 SA cents per share for FY2024, marking the 17th consecutive year of dividend payments to shareholders.
Commenting on what he describes as an “eventful year”, and a “mixed bag of outcomes and results”, DRDGold’s CEO Niël Pretorius noted that this year’s performance ‘should be seen in a context of work done to position our Company for its next phase to extend life-of-mine’.
“Our purpose is at the heart of what we do: Rolling back the environmental legacy of mining, adding to quality of life. With this longer-term value creation journey in mind, our performance this year should be seen in the context of the transition that DRDGOLD is currently undergoing to reposition for the future.
“We are now positioning to bring on stream by FY2028 a combination of reclamation sites designed to lift tonnage throughput to 3 million tonnes per month, and gold production to just over 6 tonnes per annum,” Pretorius said.
He noted, amongst other things, that progress at Far West Gold Recoveries Proprietary Limited (FWGR) Phase II, and the establishment of the Regional Tailings Storage Facility (RTSF), continues. Once commissioned, this facility near Fochville will not only be large enough to receive the operation’s entire remaining resource in this region but will offer a complete solution to the ongoing impact of tailings storage facilities built over environmentally sensitive aquifers in the region.
The company believes that the breaking of ground at this complex on 5 June 2024 follows the appointment of a leading contractor to construct the RTSF and the receipt of the requisite permits.
