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Those mines had a dreadful year - Mark Wellesley-Wood, CEO, DRDGOLD In an interview on Radio 2000 @ 18:30 on Thursday, 24 August 2006 [miningmx.com] -- DRDGOLD's offshore mines had "a dreadful" year but the South African operations were 'spitting out cash' and the prospects for the group at large were vastly improved, said Mark Wellesley-Wood, the company's CEO. The South African mines were now covering their cost of capital and would also help finance the group's fresh exploration efforts, a development Wellesley-Wood thought was unlikely ever to re-occur a year ago. DRDGOLD hopes to add a further 10 million ounces to its gold resource estimate this year after incorporating exploration efforts at two South African prospects, Sallies and Argonaut. During the financial year, DRDGOLD reported a 35% increase in attributable reserves to 8.8 million oz. The offshore mines remained a concern however. "On the results, it doesn’t look so good – all those mines had pretty dreadful year," said Wellesley-Wood. He was commenting on the company's full-year operating results to June in which it reported a 2% increase in overall gold production but amid high costs and a 4% reduction in output at the Australasian mines. The financial figures are expected to be reported on September 21, but they are likely to show continued haemorraghing at the Papua New Guinea operations. DRDGOLD's investment in these mines is held through the separately listed Emperor Mines in which DRDGOLD has a 79% stake. "We know what we’re doing and we’ve got the plans in place, and they are set to recover in the next half," said Wellesley-Wood of the Australasian mines. South Africa is cash-positive, spitting out some cash, more than covering its capital and investment," said Wellesley-Wood. "And hey, we are doing something I didn’t believe we would be doing in South Africa, if you had asked me 12 months ago – we got the drills out and we are actually exploring and prospecting for new gold," he said.
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