Media releases

Blyvoor retrenchment process completed

Details

Published: Tuesday, 05 October 2004 02:00

DRD has announced that the retrenchment process at its Blyvooruitzicht mine, near Carletonville, South Africa, has been completed.
Johannesburg, South Africa. 5 October 2004. Durban Roodepoort Deep, Limited (JSE: DUR; NASDAQ: DROOY; ASX: DRD; POM SoX: DRD) has announced that the retrenchment process at its Blyvooruitzicht (Blyvoor) mine, near Carletonville, South Africa, has been completed.

A total of 1 619 employees have been paid their retrenchment packages and have received skills training vouchers which can be exercised until the second week of December, 2004. All affected employees have left the mine.

The total cost of the retrenchment exercise was R32 million.

Skills retention, vital to the success of a drive, going forward, to improve levels of productivity, has been an important feature of the retrenchment process. Breakthrough retrenchment agreements secured with employee organisations specified skills retention as the retrenchment selection criterion, rather than the more commonly practiced last-in-first out (LIFO) criterion.

Blyvoor’s General Manager, Mark Munroe, said: “I would like to thank all employees and employee organisations for their understanding and support in expediting the retrenchment process. This marks a new beginning for Blyvoor as a smaller, higher grade mine.”

Blyvoor’s underground tonnage will reduce to about 55 000 tonnes per month from underground. In addition, the mine will process around 240 000 tonnes of slimes dam material per month.

Michael Marriott, Divisional Director: SA Operations, said: “Blyvoor has a significant reserve potential, and downsizing has preserved this option for the future.”

Queries:

South Africa
Investor and Media Relations
Ilja Graulich, Durban Roodepoort Deep, Limited
+27 11 381 7826 (office)
+27 83 604 0820 (mobile)

James Duncan, Russell & Associates
+27 11 880 3924 (office)
+27 82 892 8052 (mobile)

North America
Investor Relations and Media Relations
Susan Borinelli, Breakstone & Ruth International
+1 646-536-7018 (office)
+1 917-570-8421 (mobile)

Australasia
Investor and Media Relations
Paul Downie, Porter Novelli
+61 893 861 233 (office)
+61 414 947 129 (mobile)

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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DRD is the world’s 9th largest primary gold producer, with mines in South Africa as well as Australasia, a key target for growth. The company has a track record of success in extending the lives of older mines safely and profitably. For fiscal year 2004, DRD produced 905 000 ounces of gold, up from under 100 000 ounces a year in 1997, when current operations were amalgamated.

For more information, please visit www.drd.co.za or www.durbans.com

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DISCLAIMER

Some of the information in this voluntary release may contain projections or other forward looking statements regarding future events or other future financial performance, including statements regarding the production performance at the South African operations, and DRD's ability to diversify its assets and grow outside South Africa. We wish to caution you that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees or predictions of future performance, and involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control and which may cause actual events or results to differ materially from these expressed in the statements contained in this release.

Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences are discussed in the sections entitled 'Risk Factors' included in our annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2003, which we filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on 30 December 2003 and is available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or release results of any of these projections or forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unexpected results