Mark Wellesley-Wood
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» DRDGold moots dual listing - Mark Wellesley-Wood
» DRDGold looks to Africa
» DRDGOLD to sell 26% of SA mines

» JSE:DRDGOLD LIMITED:
541c 2%

DRDGOLD nears Canadian listing
David McKay
Posted: Mon, 26 Sep 2005

[miningmx.com] -- DRDGOLD, the South African gold mining firm, is to separately list its Australasian mines on a North American exchange.

Mark Wellesley-Wood, DRDGOLD CEO, said it would assume control of Emperor Mines, an Australian listed firm in which the South Africans have a 45.33% stake, and use it to consolidate the Australasian assets. DRDGOLD’s Australasian assets produced 350,000 oz of gold last year, equal to half of total current output.

This would create two listed entities, DRDGOLD, and its listed subsidiary, Emperor Mines, in which it would have a 50% stake. The company will most likely be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. “The two companies will attract different types of shareholders,” Wellesley-Wood said in an interview with Miningmx.

A number of South African firms have sought new listings in North America where appetite for risk and access to capital is more extensive than in South Africa. African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), South Africa’s largest black empowerment firm, said recently it would list a gold and base metals exploration company in Toronto. Another firm, Simmer & Jack Mines is also seeking an offshore listing.
The two companies will attract different types of shareholders
Earlier this year, DRDGOLD announced plans to approve a A$10m convertible loan for Emperor Mines. On conversion, DRDGOLD will own at least 50.1% of the company, enough to control the board. Thereafter, Emperor Mines would make offers for DRDGOLD’s mines and investments located in Fiji (Vatukoula) and Papua New Guinea (Tolokuma and Porgera).

DRDGOLD’s proposals are currently being reviewed by the regulators including the South African Reserve Bank.

“We believe DRDGOLD is probably positioning itself to use the Australian listed Emperor as a potential offshore listing vehicle,” said an analyst attending the Denver Gold Forum. “[DRDGOLD] has always hinted at its intention to offload the offshore assets into a separate vehicle ... Emperor could fit this role,” he said.

“One unanswered question is whether they’ll be a separate listing of DRDGOLD’s South African assets,” Wellesley-Wood said. Last month, DRDGOLD said it wanted to expand into Africa. “We don’t see many opportunities in South Africa,” said Wellesley-Wood. “There’s a number of opportunities in the pipeline. But we’ve got a strategy session in mid-October to discuss the way forward”.

DRDGOLD said it was interested in buying potential gold properties in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Sudan and Tanzania among other sub-Saharan targets.
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The division of the two companies heralds the end of DRDGOLD as a leveraged gold play. “I think we’ve proved that DRDGOLD won’t mine rubbish. We want to create reserves rather than just preserve them,” said Wellesley-Wood.

In March, DRDGOLD liquidated its North West province mines in South Africa from which it could no longer turn a profit. At the time, the mines were also hit by an earthquake that measured more than five on the Richter Scale. Commenting on that period, Wellesley-Wood said: “Last [financial] year was absolute hell. We halved the workforce and the mines were on a day-to-day watch,” he said.