DRDGOLD Limited management highlighted the environmental and sustainable credentials of the South African-focused mining company in its review of full-year 2022 performance.
The company released its Annual Integrated Report (AIR) for the 12 months ended June 30. It covers the Group’s financial, operational and growth, environmental, social, health and safety performance.
“Stakeholders are paying more attention than ever to ESG, environmental and social offerings and governance. We are now able to offer compelling value beyond financials,” Miner said in an accompanying release.
Read: DRDGOLD reports 1% increase in gold production quarter-on-quarter
In a statement, Chairman Tim Cumming and CEO Neil Pretorius said, “Through our various strategic focuses, we are committed to our vision of playing a meaningful and growing role in the drive to reverse the environmental legacy of mining. Continue committing as before.
Annual gold production was described as “satisfactory”, reaching the upper end of guidance at 5,720kg from a throughput of 28.2 million tonnes. This put him 3kg lower than the full year 2021 and benefited from a gold price in line with guidance.
“Rand gold prices have fallen since 2021 but are still doing well, up 30% in five years,” the company said.
Operating profit for the year was R1 685.1 million with free cash inflow of R871.6 million. The company has declared a dividend for 15 years in a row.
According to the company, R584.1 million has been invested in capital projects, R60.3 million has been spent on environmental management and 24 hectares (Ha) of land have been cleared by the National Nuclear Regulator for redevelopment.
“One part of the mining industry that has become very prominent these days is tailings storage and management for good reason,” Cumming and Pretorius said.
“This year saw the introduction of an external tailings review board replacing the previous review board, and continued enhancements to our outlook management system with interactive digital technology,” they added.
DRDGOLD produces gold from discarded tailings, primarily using gray water. The process is waste neutral with a small footprint in terms of drinking water consumption. The company said the land cleared this year will be 710 hectares of land cleared over the past decade.
The company, majority owned by Sibanye-Stillwater, a major platinum group metal and gold producer, operates the Ergo Mining Operations business in the eastern Witwatersrand and also operates the Far West Gold Recovery (FWGR) project.
Regarding its short-term strategic outlook (2022-2023), DRDGOLD said it will continue to focus on Ergo and FWGR to launch the business into its next phase of growth.
The company said it “will achieve this by generating cash, controlling costs in a high inflation environment and ensuring efficiency.”
Please contact the authors at giles@proactiveinvestors.com.
