DRDGOLD looks to ‘mystery buyer’ for help
John Fraser
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Resources Editor
THE identity of the mystery buyer bidding for some of DRDGOLD’s South African assets is expected to emerge next week, CE Mark Wellesley-Wood said yesterday.
An acceptable bid for the group’s mining assets could provide a lifeline for the struggling gold producer, whose share price has tumbled since it published its financial results last week.
DRDGOLD’s auditor, KPMG, has expressed doubts that the company will be able to continue as a going concern.
Mining magnate Brett Kebble and Aflease have both said they would be interested in bidding for DRDGOLD’s South African assets, but neither has put a formal bid on the table.
Wellesley-Wood declined to identify the suitor. “It’s not someone you will be thinking of.”
He said DRDGOLD had met the unions on Wednesday and formally launched a process which would lead to retrenchments and shaft closures at its North West mining operations near Klerksdorp, which are losing R20m a month.
He said the company was prepared to mothball its entire North West operations unless a deal could be struck with the unions.
But a spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Moferefere Lekorotsoana, has indicated that it would not be co-operative.
The NUM called on government to withdraw DRDGOLD’s mining licences, alleging the company was marginalising its South African mines in favour of offshore assets in Australasia.
DRDGOLD’s North West operations employ 6513 workers.
“We will start off with voluntary retrenchments, and we have ideas of which shafts will drop out first,” Wellesley-Wood said.
He said productivity must be improved from working costs of R71m a month to R40m a month.
“In the event of a failure to achieve these targets, placing the entire North West operations on care and maintenance becomes an option we must consider.”
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