The most successful way to be a gold producer may be to not operate any mines.
At least, that’s the business model of DRDGold, the best-performing stock on the MSCI ACWI Select Gold Miners Investable Market Index this year. The company, which specialises in recovering gold from mine dumps in and around Johannesburg, has surged 277% in 2020, also making it the biggest gainer on South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa all share benchmark.
“Everybody is flocking to the arms of gold,” Niel Pretorius, CEO of DRDGold, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “And because our company does provide exceptional gearing to the gold price, and it is traded at a multiple to movement of the gold price, it is always a favourite pick.”