Business Overview | DRD Gold maintains stable dividend despite looming “race for ore” and soaring chocolate prices

It was a bit of a slow day for company news, but DRD Gold kept its dividend stable despite a year of lower ore yields. In international news, chocolate makers Hershey and Cadbury warned of further price increases as cocoa prices hit new records.

DRD Gold, a 128-year-old mining company based in Gautengtook advantage of the rise in gold prices to increase its revenue despite lower production compared to the previous year. Most of the revenue, which rose 12% to R2.9bn in the six months to December, came from its Ergo gold tailings operation east of Johannesburg. Despite benefiting from a 22% rise in gold prices, gold production fell 7% to 81,888 ounces. Cash operating costs increased by just over a fifth in rand terms. The group said there have been delays in starting new landfills to replace recently depleted bulk landfills. During his two-year period ending in December 2023, three major operational clusters reached end-of-service. These were to be replaced by his four new sites scheduled to go live after October 2022 to ensure smooth overlap and stable throughput. Delays in the processing of water permits at two sites, complaints of an appeals process by a community forum at a third site, and community-related obstructions to the construction of pipe pillars at a fourth site added pressure. As a result, the 2023 calendar year has become “a scramble to source materials from heritage sites and cleanup sites,” the newspaper said. Earnings rose 10% to 68.4 cents per share, and the dividend held steady at 20 cents per share. Following general pressure on gold miners, DRD Gold fell nearly 5% on Wednesday and is now down nearly 4% over the past year.

Mid-sized gold mining company Pan African Resources increased interim gold production and took advantage of rising precious metal prices, increasing net profit by almost half. The company said Wednesday it is well positioned to meet its forecast of up to 190,000 ounces for the year to the end of June and could raise its guidance soon. Pan African said profits rose 46.7% to $42.4 million (R812 million) in the six months to the end of December, as gold production rose 6.7% to more than 98,000 ounces. It was reported that it happened. Net cash from operating activities increased by 134.5% to $27.2 million, and miners benefited from a price increase of more than 22% in rand terms. However, net debt increased by nearly a fifth to $64.3 million due to continued spending on the Mogale tailings reprocessing project, which is expected to reach steady-state production in December. Pan-African rose about 0.5% and is up more than 31% in the past year.