DRDGold halts drilling at ERPM gold mine

DRDGold said on Tuesday it had halted drilling and blasting at the ERPM gold mine’s only producing shaft because of pumping problems.

The company was forced to halt part of its pumping operations at the mine, which is near Johannesburg, last month for safety reasons and said the remaining system could not cope with rising water levels.

It was investigating the installation of extra pumping capacity, but said “initial indications are that this would be both costly and would take several months to implement”.

The company said its 74%-owned South African unit, which runs the mine, was in talks with the government and unions about how to tackle the problem