SOUTH African gold producer DRDGOLD has more than doubled its cash reserves to R1.31bn in its 2025 financial year ended June, up from R521.5m the previous year, driven by surging gold prices that offset declining production at two key operations.
Commenting in a trading statement on Thursday, the company said it expected earnings per share and headline earnings per share to range between 252.4 South African cents and 267.8c, representing a 64% to 74% increase from the prior year.
The earnings boost was primarily driven by a 31% increase in the rand gold price received, which helped group revenue climb 26% to R7.88bn. The market helped offset a marginal 3% decline in total gold sales to 4,818 kilograms from 4,990kg previously.
Production challenges were evident at both of the firm’s main operations.
At Far West Gold Recoveries (FWGR), gold sales slipped 1% to 1,352kg, whilst Ergo Mining saw a more significant 4% drop to 3,466kg despite processing 21% more material at 19.5 million tons. Ergo’s gold yield fell from 0.226g/t to 0.178g/t due to lower average grades at newly commissioned reclamation sites.
Despite higher throughput, group cash operating costs rose modestly by 4% to R4.37bn, with per-kilogram costs increasing 9% at Ergo to R1.06m due to reduced gold production.
DRDGOLD achieved 155,288 oz of gold production, meeting the lower end of its guidance range of 155,000-165,000 oz, with cash operating costs of R903,824/kg.
The company generated free cash inflow of R1.23bn. Capital expenditure fell 24% to R2.25bn. The decline in capex was due to the completion of major projects including solar power facilities and reclamation site commissioning.
