DRDGOLD is the only South African mining company involved solely in the retreatment of surface gold tailings and is one of the oldest JSE-listed companies. Coupled with our performance in HY2022, the company bears testimony to the resilience of a business model that has been several years in the making.
Our business model is informed by the quality and character of our mineral resources, the value proposition we pursue, our desire to mine as much of our resource as we possibly can and the realities of our operating environment.
What we do
Ours is an on-surface, technology driven, mechanised process. The low grade of our resource demands economies of scale achievable only through mechanised mining and plant extraction efficiencies that require accurate analysis. We reclaim mine tailings mainly by way of high pressure hydromechanical mining, using recycled water. Reclaimed gold bearing materials are transported over tens of kilometres through a network of pipelines to our metallurgical plants and process water returned by way of a closed circuit to the reclamation sites.
How we create value
What differentiates DRDGOLD from other mining operations is the fact that we do not mine underground but retreat mine waste which means we are waste neutral. We are mechanised, mine without interruption and by its very nature our mining results in the rehabilitation of sites formerly occupied by mine dumps. We also mine mostly within built-up areas, which requires a sensitivity to society that informs our standards of environmental containment and social value-add. We seek to generate value in alignment with our sustainable development model. As far as possible, we endeavour to create an overlap of value, where value in one area enhances value in other sustainable development value stocks.