In the media

DRDGOLD says near-term projects funded, may raise capital after 2010

[Miningweekly] - Midtier gold producer DRDGOLD would not need to raise capital until after 2010, when it completed a feasibility study on the ERPM phase two expansion, expected to cost between R6-billion and R8-billion, it said on Tuesday.

Midtier gold producer DRDGOLD would not need to raise capital until after 2010, when it completed a feasibility study on the ERPM phase two expansion, expected to cost between R6-billion and R8-billion, it said on Tuesday.

The underground expansion project would add 8,32-million ounces to the company’s resources, CEO John Sayers stated.

He said that DRDGOLD had enough cash on its balance sheet to fund its near-term projects in South Africa, as well as the estimated R100-million required for the first phase of expansion at ERPM, near Boksburg, which would add nearly 10-million ounces to the firm’s resources.

The company had already completed a prefeasibility study for this project, Sayers told the Africa Mining Congress in Sandton.

“I wouldn’t like to try and raise money in today’s markets,” he said.

Sayers stated that he was “pretty relaxed” on DRDGOLD’s fourth-quarter position, after having delivered good results since the company stabilised its position, following its Papua New Guinea exit.

He said that management would be heading to the European and US markets in the next couple of months to update investors there on DRDGOLD’s progress.

Meanwhile, DRDGOLD South Africa CEO Niel Pretorius said that DRDGOLD had lost one day’s production after an illegal strike at the company’s Blyvooruitzicht mine, near Carletonville, at the end of May.

At ERPM, he did not believe that the company had “lost that much production”, when the mine’s workforce was temporarily cut down by the violent outbreaks in informal settlements where many of its employees lived.

Pretorius said that the company had managed to continue with drilling and blasting underground.

“It wasn’t as disruptive as we thought it would be,” he told Mining Weekly Online on the sidelines of the conference.

Nearly 50% of ERPM’s workers failed to show up for their shifts for much of the week beginning May 18, as a result of the violence, which led to the deaths of two DRDGOLD employees.