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Johannesburg - Gold producer DRDGold on Wednesday announced a quarter-on-quarter improvement in gold production of four percent.
Operating profit increased by 17% while all-in sustaining costs dropped by 14%, the company said in a statement.
"The increase in gold production was the result of a nine percent increase in the average yield, which offset a four percent drop in throughput," the company said.
In the third week of January, the flotation or fine-grind circuit at Ergo's Brakpan Plant was completed and full production through this circuit was achieved.
"We are pleased that production was back up, but we would have preferred to have had the FFG circuit fully operational by the end of December 2013," said CEO Niel Pretorius.
"That is what we told the market we were aiming for. Unfortunately, delays in getting the last of three thickeners up and running pushed final commissioning back by at least three weeks."
For the half-year that ended on December 31, gold production was down by 8% compared with the first six months of 2013.
DRDGold's full operating and financial results for the quarter and the six months that ended December 31 will be released on February 11.
