Gold producer DRDGold CEO Niël Pretorius told investment firm CX Investments in an interview that investors were becoming more supportive of projects that may not necessarily have vast economic upside, but that will deliver in terms of environmental or social value-add.

We spoke with Niël Pretorius, who is the CEO of DRDGOLD Limited (DRDGOLD; JSE, NYSE: DRD). DRDGOLD is a South African gold producer and a world leader in the recovery of gold from the retreatment of surface tailings.

NYSE- and JSE-listed DRDGold says a project to convert the Driefontein 2 Plant (DP2) at the Far West Gold Recoveries (FWGR) surface retreatment operation, in Gauteng, to closed-circuit milling, is nearing completion.

A stronger average gold price, higher production and increased sales helped DRDGold more than double its annual headline earnings. The tailings treatment company has also lifted its final dividend by 14% to 40c. Alishia Seckam spoke to CEO Niël Pretorius for more detail.

“It’s year on year; remember that we’re coming out of a Covid year, so there was always going to be a slight increase if you just ran the business according to its capacity. And then if you were to compare volume throughput this year to previous years, then our volume throughput has actually been exceptionally good, but the plants have been predictable. They have been really well managed by our operating personnel, so we managed to get the tonnes in the mill. That’s key to a big-volume operation like ours,” said Niel Pretorius.

DRDGOLD, which mines old gold dumps around Johannesburg, yesterday said that it expected slightly lower production and higher operating costs in 2022 as it declared its 14th consecutive financial year of dividends during the year ended June 2021 on higher gold prices and sales. DRDGold, which operates Ergo and the Far West Gold Recoveries (FWGR), declared a final dividend of 40 cents per share, with group operating profit increasing by 39 percent to R2.2 billion.

DRDGold, one of the world’s largest gold tailings retreatment companies, has declared a final dividend for the 14th consecutive year as strong gold prices pushed the group’s profit skyward. At the release of its results for the year ended June 30, DRDGold declared a dividend of 40cs per share for the year.

Headline earnings were 127% higher year-on-year at R1.4-billion, compared with headline earnings of R634.5-million in the comparative period. “By producing and selling more gold at a substantially higher average rand gold price and containing working cost increases reasonably well, we recorded a much higher operating profit.”

This is the 14th consecutive financial year of DRDGOLD declaring dividends. The company achieved 99% of the upper limit of its production guidance and exceeded its cash operating cost guidance of R535 000/kg by just 1%. At year-end, the company remained debt-free. Of DRDGOLD’s 2021 financial year, CEO Niël Pretorius says: “By producing and selling more gold at a substantially higher average Rand gold price and containing working cost increases reasonably well, we recorded a much higher operating profit.”

Cash-flush DRDGold delivered returns to shareholders through a 14th consecutive final dividend on Wednesday, but the gold tailing retreatment company is also preserving funds to embark on green energy projects in the year ahead. DRDGold executives described the year ended in June 2021 as “magic” for the company, which reaped the benefits of a high rand gold price and a strong production performance.