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Gold/Mining/Energy : DROOY Durban Deep- Best S. African Mine -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Hunt who wrote (64)	1/30/1999 4:44:00 PM
From: IngotWeTrust	Respond to of 851

DURBAN Roodepoort Deep (Durban Deep) has continued its renaissance, posting a one-third increase in cash profit for the December quarter and unveiling a string of projects which will sustain its gold output, currently forecast at 650000oz a year. Durban Deep's cash profit of R18m was achieved on a 17% increase in gold production. The higher gold output was related to the incorporation of the dump retreatment enterprise Crown Consolidated Gold Recoveries, a transaction announced last year. The December quarter results reveal a seventh successive quarter-on-quarter increase in cash operating profit. "Everyone here is walking tall," CEO Mike Prinsloo said yesterday. Prinsloo said if Durban Deep had enough gold reserves to keep it operating for the next eight years at current output. The group produced five tons of gold in the December quarter and forecast output of 5,3 tons for the March quarter. Analysts, whose expectations of lower profits for Durban Deep were overhauled by yesterday's results, said it was critical for the group to acquire a larger underground operation to give it critical mass. In the short term, however, Durban Deep had significantly restructured its hedge book which would positively affect its valuation. It was now less vulnerable to the gold price with more than half of its gold production sold forward at R56785/kg until June. The current rand gold price was R55971/kg. Prinsloo said he was working on two large capital projects in SA costing a combined R37m, but he was seeking also an offshore vehicle, preferably in Australasia. The group said it was still waiting for approval from Sydney-listed Emperor Mines to conduct a due diligence on its goldmine in Fiji, which Durban Deep wants to manage. A spokesman for Emperor said recently, however, that no deal was likely until Durban Deep made an offer and put up the money. The other half of Durban Deep's future was its plan to access pockets of reef at its Blyvooruitzicht mine. Output from this section will be increased to 6800kg from 3600kg a year at a cash cost of $230/oz. Dubbed "Blyvoor 2000 and beyond", the project involves the upgrade of plant at Blyvoor. Prinsloo said Durban Deep's ambition was to become a 1,2-million ounces of gold a year producer, of which about 800,000 oz would be derived from SA operations with the balance mined from offshore prospects.