DRDGold weighing AI in effort to cut gold theft
DRDGOLD was examining how by using artificial intelligence systems it could improve crime prevention – an increasing hazard for gold miners especially as the price of the metal has sky-rocketed in the past year.While DRDGold was not competing with illegal miners for gold, as they mine virgin ore, their activities in the DRDGOLD footprint are a risk to staff safety, said Niël Pretorius, CEO of gold dumps remining company.He was commenting during the group’s interim results ended December on Tuesday in which the company rewarded shareholders with a 30 South African cents per share interim payout by virtue of a 26% increase in its average received gold price. The higher gold price resulted in a 65% increase in the bottom line.Although gold production rose only 1% to 2,564 kilograms, the increase in the average gold price received in this period to R1.48m/kg (2023: R1.17m/kg) translated into headline earnings of 112.6c/share (2023: 68.4c/share).Capex spending was lower than a year ago at R947.6m and cash held on the balance sheet increased to R662.1m.DRDGOLD’s Pretorius said higher throughput, less mechanical mining, and the benefits of solar power helped to cut operating costs by 9% to R172/t.DRDGOLD is in the middle of a four-year R10bn capex programme, Vision 2028, with the goal of expanding output to 6.3 tons of gold a year from the current five tons/year. It is also exploring the feasibility of re-mining copper tailings at Okiep in the Northern Cape.Pretorius said the company is working on a number of projects including improving the stability of head grades and optimising its R2.9bn solar plant at Ergo without which the facility cannot be expanded.Other initiatives include the build out of a 800 million ton tailings storage facility at Far West Gold Recoveries, expanding the Driefontein 2 plant and getting approval for the recommissioning of the old Withok deposition facility at Ergo.The solar plant at Ergo was starting to make a contribution as electricity consumption fell 16% during the six months compared to a 22% increase in electricity units used at the plant. Electricity is the group’s third-biggest cost.By lowering power costs, DRDGold can mine lower grades of material. In future, Ergo will be mining higher volumes at lower grades, said Pretorius.DRDGold was on track to meet its full-year guidance of 155,000 to 165,000 oz of gold production and unit cash operating costs of R870,000/kg. It expects to use slightly less than the R3.5bn capex originally budgeted for the current year, he said.The post DRDGold weighing AI in effort to cut gold theft appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com
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