* Q2 Headline EPS 33 cents vs 20 cents in Q1
* Production flat at 63,659 ounces
* Shares up 24 pct so far this year
(Adds details)
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 14 (Reuters) – DRDGold,
South Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer, said on Tuesday
that second-quarter earnings climbed 65 percent as it continued
to cash in on the higher gold price.
Headline earnings totalled 33 cents per share in the
October-December second quarter, compared with 20 cents in the
first quarter. Headline earnings, the main profit measure in
South Africa, strip out certain one-off items.
Total gold production was virtually unchanged quarter on
quarter at 63,659 ounces, but lower than the 69,446 ounces
produced in the second quarter last year, with declining grades
the chief culprit.
The company, which plans to exit underground mining, aims to
increase its production by as much as 20 percent through the
construction of a 250 million rand ($32.46 million) milling
circuit at its Ergo’s Brakpan plant.
Profit was buoyed by an 11 percent increase in the average
rand gold price received to R437,316/kg.
Gold shot to an all-time high of $1,920.30 an ounce in early
September and while US dollar gold prices have declined since
then, the rand-per-kilogram price of gold has soared on the back
of a weaker rand.
Continued…
