JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold-from-mine-waste company DRDGOLD is looking at organic growth of 40% in throughput and 30% in output, using internally funded cash flows and infrastructure that can facilitate additional expansion well beyond the life-of-mine (LoM) of current operations.

The objective is to lift throughput to 36-million tons a year from 25-million tons a year and gold to 6 t/y from 4.6 t/y. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video).

It’s an R8-billion self-funded capital reinvestment programme so that by financial year 2028, three-million tons a month of material is processed, and 200 000 oz of gold is produced.

In financial year 2025, R1.8-billion rand was spent. In financial year 2026, R3-billion expenditure is being looked at, and for the remainder of 2027 and a part of 2028, R3.2-billion will open the way to completion.

DRDGOLD, the oldest, at 131 years, continuous listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, has been focused exclusively on surface retreatment for the last 13 years. It is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has a market capitalisation of roughly R30-billion or just over $2-billion.

“We don't produce any gold from anything other than mine waste,” DRDGOLD CEO Niël Pretorius outlined at the Sibanye-Stillwater Capital Market’s Day covered by Mining Weekly.

At the moment, the company is set up to produce roughly 150 000 oz/y of gold and it does this from two operations, Ergo on the East Rand and Far West Gold Recoveries on the West Rand.

Ergo is responsible for about 70% of production at the moment, and Far West Gold Recoveries for the remaining 30%. Combined current throughput is some 25-million tons of material a month.

Two values drive the strategic approach. The first is sustainable development and the second is optimisation of the existing resource base.

“Our intention is to optimise this resource base by mining as much of it as we possibly can,” said Pretorius.

Added to its 6.6-million-ounce resource base is 500 000 oz from Sibanye-Stillwater’s Kloof 2 dump and reserves which totalled 5.73-million ounces as of December 31.

A very specific methodology is needed to mine the low-grade material profitably and sustainably, and “it's all about economies of scale. You need large infrastructure, and you need large tailing storage facility (TSF) capacity”, said Pretorius as he displayed pictures of short-term plant and deposition infrastructure at Ergo and longer-term infrastructure provision at Far West Gold Recoveries.

“Both pictures are important, because it's showing not only how we maintain current throughput capacity, but how we intend to increase it over the next few years,” said Pretorius.

DRDGOLD’s Vision 28 is intended to establish the infrastructure to extend the life of the Ergo operation by 22 years and that of Far West Gold Recoveries by 16 years by way of increased throughput and output.

“The objective is to lift that 25-million tons a year to 36-million tons a year – a throughput increase of just on 40% – and to increase gold production by just over 30% from 4.6 t of gold a year to roughly 6 t of gold a year,” Pretorius explained.

Project permitting is being executed and of the five capital projects that form the basis of Vision 2028, the first two projects are Ergo-based projects, with Ergo’s contribution into Vision 2028 more towards the extension of LoM and relatively modest in terms of output.

At the moment, Ergo is producing at 1.65-million tons a month, and the intention is for number one and number two projects (also see attached Creamer Media video) to ultimately take Ergo back to 1.8-million tons a month.

The first project, which involves the resumption of deposition onto the Daggafontein TSF, is pretty much there.

“We'll be providing an update in July as to where we are with each of these projects, but project one is around the corner.”

The whole idea with Daggafontein is to take the pressure off Ergo’s current TSF, the Brakpan Tailings Facility that's been around since 1986, and to take up some of the throughput from Ergo.

The intention is to ultimately deposit 120-million tons of material on to Daggafontein.

When deposition is resumed, the rate of deposition will be around 750 000 oz a month, while the Brakpan TSF is almost halving its deposition profile.

The second project is the Withok TSF, which is due to come online towards the end of the entire project. It will be the last of the five projects to be commissioned.

The total volume contribution of the two projects will be 150 000 t a month.

Where the big output and throughput changes are being implemented is through the remaining five projects – the expansion of the DP2 plant, the Regional Tailing Storage Facility (RTSF) project, and the construction of the pipelines linking all the infrastructure.

The DP 2 plant, currently built to accommodate 600 000 t a month, is running at 500 000 t a month. Construction, which began last year, is now nearing completion.

All three of these projects will systematically and in stages be commissioned over the next 12 months, with the DP2 plant being the closest to reaching the commissioning stage. It will be finished before DRDGOLD is in a position to lift throughput to 1.2-million tons but will provide the opportunity to first commission the new line, and to do maintenance on the existing line.

“The RTSF is probably one of our most ambitious projects ever, after the construction of our 60 MW solar farm,” Pretorius pointed out. RTSF is an 800 ha TSF with an ultimate capacity of 800-million tons.

The entire RTSF is going to be lined and it is hoped that work will start towards the latter part of this calendar year and be completed by the middle of next calendar year, so that it is in a position to achieve the 1.2-million-ton throughput target in the 2027 financial year. Pipelines linking up the DP2 and RTSF are being built.

Displayed was a picture of the large RTSF on 800 ha. The circumference of the RTSF’s circular base is about 14 km. It has to be commissioned carefully to ensure that the filters are not blinded and that no work done to date is compromised.

Key project deliverables are trending according to the required timelines. It is licensed and the designs are approved, but the regulator has to give the nod before a single ton of material is placed in the dam. The weather also has to play its part because the initial commissioning requires dry weather. The July 2027 timeline being worked towards appears appropriate to achieve that.

A picture of the DP 2 plant showed a second line of carbon-in-leach tanks that have been constructed on this footprint as well as a smelt house that is reaching the latter stages of construction.

“So, we'll start with commissioning there in the next few months towards the end of this calendar year and then do some maintenance work on the existing second line,” Pretorius reported.

Combined 135 km of slurry, residue and returned water pipeline infrastructure being built in the Fochville/Carletonville area links DP2 to the RTSF.

“So, this is premised on the same model that we have at Ergo in that all the water stays in a closed circuit, so you have returned water lines to and from every reclamation site and other pieces of infrastructure and here's the Daggafontein TSF,” Pretorius said while displaying the pictures, “which is there to take the pressure off the Brakpan tailings facility – and that's about ready to go”.

Going forward, another completed 120-million-ton-capacity pipeline to Ergo will take 750 000 t out of the total monthly deposition throughput of 1.650-million tons.

Then, when Withok is commissioned, those 1.650-million tons increase to 1.8-million tons.

“And this is where we are at this stage,” he said, as DRDGOLD stays true to its resource and asset optimisation commitment through the deployment of a proven, replicable model that creates opportunities for expansion beyond current footprints and into complementary metals.