JCI OFFERS ASSISTANCE TO AILING DRDGOLD
09 March 2005 - Brett Kebble, chief executive of JCI Limited, announced today that JCI would honour a court ruling in which the company was ordered to pay R37-million in option fees to DRDGold (formerly Durban Roodepoort Deep) as a result of a commercial dispute. In a spirit of reconciliation Kebble said that he had decided not to take the matter to the Constitutional Court.
“While we still feel aggrieved by the court ruling, further applications would cost both JCI and DRD considerable additional money and, most importantly, time that would be better spent on saving DRD’s South African operations,” said Kebble.
“We have been approached in recent weeks by numerous interested parties associated with DRD, seeking advice and assistance from us. It is clear that DRD’s operations are in a very precarious situation. 11 years ago DRD found itself in a similar position - crippled by head office costs and without the operational resources to turn the situation around. We turned it around then, and we can do it again. For the sake of the industry and all those employed by DRD, the time has come to get the key players around a table and see what can be done to reconstruct, recapitalise and revitalise DRD,” said Kebble.
He added that an essential element of saving DRD’s ailing operations would be a compact with labour. “A compact with labour is the key to saving these assets. Roger Kebble was instrumental in getting this right 11 years ago and is eminently suited to putting together a team to achieve this first key step. During the time when DRD was profiting from rand weakness it gave back very little to its labour who are today the worst treated in the industry. The current climate demands a very different approach and a specific skills set to run marginal mines. We now have a situation where the company’s mines are on course for closure unless something is done to assist them.
“It is in this context that we take the view that it would be in South Africa’s best interests if hostilities between all SA mining companies, in particular the conflict between JCI and DRD, ceased. If a settlement could be achieved whereby a new management team, assembled by Roger Kebble, could implement emergency measures to create sustainability and put forward a proposal for revitalisation, we would be prepared to withdraw all claims against DRD and Mr Wellesley-Wood personally.
“The time for the focus of senior management being distracted by personal vendettas must come to an end. We would not want to participate in anything other than a constructive plan to save the mines.
“Mr Wellesley-Wood believes he has no option except to close the mines. Our view is that the mines can be saved. It will be a tragedy for the whole country, not to mention the people and communities who depend on the mine, if this is allowed to happen.
“We understand that Mr Wellesley-Wood is investigating amongst others, the option of selling the South African operations to small international operators. In our view, this will simply postpone the inevitable. Our offer to DRD therefore is that we are prepared to cease all hostilities in the interest of finding an overall solution,” said Kebble.
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