Good morning, everybody, and thank you very much for joining us for our results presentation for the year ended 30th June 2022. I'm Niël Pretorius, and joining me is Riaan Davel, who is our Chief Financial Officer, and Jaco Schoeman, who's the Chief Operating Officer. We'd like to provide a little bit of context before we kick off, just in terms of the year. It's certainly been a year like no other. We're almost at a point with a sigh of relief saying we made it through another winter. Just in terms of local context, beginning of the year was deeply unsettling with some of the riots that we saw in KwaZulu-Natal threatening to spill over into Gauteng.
We also saw how vulnerable we were in terms of just logistics into Gauteng from the coast with the collapse of Transnet and our over-reliance on road transportation. Globally, what we're witnessing is more and more uncertainty against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, Russia, an increase in international tension. We're seeing economic uncertainty, inflation going rampant. America for the first time in decades seeing double-digit inflation and the accompanying increase in interest rates. Closer to home, we've had weather like we've never seen before. The amount of rain that we experienced, especially in the East Rand, has just been different from anything else we've ever experienced in the past. We had our hands full in terms of clean and dirty water separation rather.
Again, we had these blackouts, the rolling blackouts. Eskom really battling under the strain of delivering into the energy requirements of the nation. Then, of course, coming out of COVID, the impact that it's had on our economy, hardship experienced in many of the communities where we operate. Definitely saw an increase in the, let's call it the level of anger, the intensity of social discontent. Worryingly, changes in the patterns of organized crime and violent crime in particular. We definitely saw that, crimes that in the past were simply just theft had now become armed robbery, relating to cable theft, et cetera.
All of these things were certainly dynamics that were new dynamics that we had to deal with, and we had to navigate our way through that. Worryingly seeing the rise of, let's call them these crime enclaves where there's almost a dilution of state sovereignty, where the police are fearing to go in and from where these criminal attacks are launched. Very different approach in terms of security and keeping our staff safe and keeping our assets safe. Those were some of the things that I think we experienced that informed our thinking, that's impacting our costs and that we're also having to plan for going forward. That is the backdrop against which we're also sharing these results with you.
Coming out of that, and into the new year, needless to say that we are quite pleased with how the year panned out for us, in terms of particularly production. You'll see some of the cost trends as well. Getting straight into the highlights for the year, the key features. You see that both in terms of revenue and in terms of production, things were pretty flat, and that's notwithstanding the fact that there was a slight decrease in the gold price. Where we saw changes coming through, against the backdrop of what I just described to you, were the costs that were up on a number of scores.
Now, they're the typical dynamics that we deal with on an annual basis that have become predictable around Eskom prices, price increases in electricity and so forth. But then there were also some dynamics particular to this particular year, where we relied more on the mechanical movement of material as a consequence of some of the volume throughput challenges that we faced. Those being related to both the weather and in certain instances also the supply of electricity into various units where we rely on municipalities, on local councils, as opposed to Eskom, where we just have curtailment direction. Those impacted on the bottom line, impacted our costs.
As a consequence, you can see that both our operating profit, although still very healthy at ZAR 1.7 billion for the year, and headline earnings, also still quite healthy at ZAR 1.1 billion, both of those down by just over 20%. We still managed to make our contribution towards the fiscus with a very healthy contribution. Total contribution of just over ZAR 400 million in terms of income tax and pay-as-you-earn. We're looking forward to seeing the value delivery that we as citizens of this country are entitled to see going forward. We will be pleasantly surprised once that starts happening. Then, of course, this is also the 15th year of paying a dividend, and a healthy one at that, of around 6%.
It's a little down on last year. A healthy dividend nonetheless within the context of what's been happening in the industry and also globally. We see that women in mining remain virtually unchanged at 23%. It's an important number for us. One of our key goals that we set in terms of the transformation of our business. Socioeconomic spend, which has become very important, even more so against the backdrop of rising discontent, ZAR 52.9 million. I'll elaborate a little bit more on that during the ESG part. Then there's also been a slight increase at one or two of the areas where we measure dust. We're getting to the bottom of this. We don't think all of that's from our own operations.
I think it might be related to road infrastructure and also some construction in the area. It's been monitored, it's been picked up, and therefore it's also being looked into. That's pretty much the year's performance in a nutshell. Getting into a little bit more of the detail in terms of operating trends. There you can see the story. Let's go first to the Ergo operating trends. You could see the story around volume throughput, especially in the second half of the year. A lot of that, the 10.7 million tons, as opposed to for the comparative period, close to 12, a lot of that related to both weather and also some of the electricity interruptions that we had. A lot of material was moved mechanically, and that impacted also the cost.
At least we got the gold, and I think that's where the trade-off comes in. It's something that we also encourage, to think dynamically about achieving throughput and to think dynamically about getting the gold through the plant, because of the very high fixed cost component of our cost profile. Now, of course, the stuff that you do lift mechanically are sort of at the lower regions of our recovery sites. It's floor cleanup mostly. Then typically we also find slightly higher grades. You can see that the yield per ton was also quite a bit up compared to comparative period last year, bumping against the 0.2 gram at a time.
This is an ongoing process, and our focus is not just volume throughput, but also optimizing the value of every single ton, and that's why we're reporting this on a per ton basis. Production kilos-wise, up on the previous half year, comparative half year, and relatively flat compared to the first half of the year. All in all, looking at where Ergo operates, what it had to deal with in terms of just getting the volumes through, the plant was stable, and that's very important. Operations were well managed, well contained, and I think testimony to a lot of the work that's been done in the past in managing these various contingencies that we've got to deal with, the risk factors that I referred to earlier in terms of volume throughput, weather, rain, and electricity. Moving on to Far West Gold and its operating trends.
Pretty flat. Testimony to an operation that does not have as many moving parts, but also that's being looked at very carefully, with a keen eye and that was brought to a level of stability and being maintained at that level. In terms of volume throughput, you can see very, very flat. This is an operation also where obviously we're not running at full capacity. We're running at the capacity which firstly is required for responsible management of our ore body. Secondly, also the rate at which we can deposit onto our tailings deposition facility. It's all about making sure that we don't put stress on our tailings dam, and hence 3 million tons a quarter or rather a half year, and maintaining that. Same in terms of production, on kilos.
Slightly higher head grades this year, being able to take advantage of that by actually getting the gold out. Remember that this was the first full year that we've had the benefit of a copper reduction plant. A part of the year, we also had the benefit of the new mills. Those mills will be further upgraded this year to become closed circuit to introduce an even better fraction of material into the CIL tanks for better cyanidation and absorption.
In terms of group operating trends, again, on a combined basis, you could see the challenges right at the end of the year, from 14.4 million to 13.7 million, but made up to an extent by slightly higher head grades and improvements on yield, and then production relatively flat. Out of the four areas that we're reporting here or reflecting here, see that first half and the second half were the second and third best out of three. Steady state. Riaan will take you through the financial review, and then he will hand back to me right at the end to just talk a little bit broader about ESG and strategy. Thank you, Riaan.
Thank you very much, Niël. Good morning, everyone, from my perspective. Just wanna echo from Niël's perspective the intro that he's given and the financial results in context of many challenges. He named a few, and he elaborates further in the letter to shareholders, which I always encourage everyone to read in our results booklet. Also more detail on the financial results. As you mentioned, high summer rainfall, load shedding, supply pressures, cost pressures. Again, it's testimony to operational teams at Ergo and Far West Gold Recoveries, notwithstanding all those challenges, making sure that the tons come through in our 24-hour a day, seven-day a week, 365-day a year operation.
It's always my privilege then to present the results of a team that look at things on a per second basis and cannot take your eye off anything. This is the result of 365 days of hard work and my testimony to the teams that produced this. Within the context that Niël provided on tons, yield and production, Ergo has had a very stable performance. Again, its resilience is shining through, where maybe a couple of years ago, it faced maybe less challenges with more sporadic achievement. It's remarkable when I look at these results, the stability that Ergo as our flagship operation produces.
I always say that first half of 2021 was a remarkable six months from a gold production, a gold price, almost ZAR 1 million per kilogram. It shows throughout. You'll see in the presentation, it's just a remarkable six months. Just year-over-year, Ergo's revenue down by 6%, 3% of that sitting in the average rand gold price received, and 3% less in gold sold, but overall stable. The cash operating cost that Niël alluded to, again, we can see it there, a year-over-year increase in cash operating costs of close to 13%. Again, in the operating profit, which is the net result with some energy movements also taken into account, very stable.
Even the second six months with lower tons, where the yield came through, a very solid operating profit performance for Ergo as well. Going to Far West. Again, marvelous performance, as Niël described it as a much simpler operation. Again, in this year, our two operations and the diversification that that gives us, again shone through where there were challenges with the DP1 operation, our smelting, and maybe we couldn't use that all the time. Ergo came through, also supporting Far West from a DRDGOLD point of view, so that we can keep on eluting our gold and selling it. Far West actually showed a year-on-year improvement in gold revenue of 7%, with gold sold up 9%, 8% increase in yield.
As Niël mentioned, with the Driefontein 5 Dam showing high head grades, but at the same time, as a result of that site drawing nearer to its completion. Cash operating costs, similar cost pressures as at Ergo around key consumables, diesel, cyanide, steel, with a 12% increase year-on-year. With that good revenue performance and increase in gold sold, the operating profit for Far West up 3% year-on-year. Well run operation. It was great to also visit them the other day. What's happening there is really exciting for our business. Some other group financial trends that I wanna mention. You'll see throughout this that marvelous six-month period of very high gold price, Ergo high yield, high gold production throughout the results.
If you look at this year from an operating margin point of view, well managed, although it's down 20% year-on-year, with the gold price down 3%, and then cost pressures coming through. If you look at the 32.6% the second six months of the year, I believe that costs were managed very well, and helped by a slightly higher gold price than in the first six months. Obviously the yield for Ergo, and then for Far West, assisting to have a very stable operating margin, overall for the year. All-in sustaining cost margin, obviously an impact then where we take cash operating costs, but we add sustaining capital expenditure. This one is always a positive picture although it has declined.
The 16% in the last six months of this financial year is also testimony to more sustaining CapEx. Our sustaining CapEx for the group is up 41% year-on-year. As we've indicated to the market, we will not hold back to make sure our business is resilient, we have options and we'll keep on investing to make sure that we can mine our ore body for as long as possible. Although the all-in sustaining cost margin is down, it also has a very positive picture in that we'll keep on investing capital into our business. Free cash flow number that we're very proud of, obviously lower than the ZAR 1.1 billion that we generated last year. It's ZAR 871.6 million.
It's a number that we closely manage and that we believe is the heartbeat of any business, is the cash that you generate, 'cause you can do a lot with it. As Niël alluded to the tax, and we continue to hope that that value is seen through the communities and constituencies that that's supported by government, but also through employees. As Niël alluded to it, our final dividend of ZAR 0.40 that we return, keep on returning capital to shareholders, bringing our total dividend for the year, including our interim of ZAR 0.20 that we declared in February to ZAR 0.60. Headline earnings, again, seeing that marvelous six-month period. But specifically that ZAR 0.727 in the last six months is something that we're very proud of under tough circumstances.
As Niël mentioned, overall, headline earnings per share down 22% year-on-year, and very much in line with the decrease in our operating profit for the group. Going to the statement of profit or loss, income statement, and just quickly running through the various line items. Revenue down 3% year-on-year, mostly sitting in gold price. Cost of sales overall up 10%. Some positive gold in inventory or process movements there. Getting to our gross profit from operating activities down 27% year-on-year. A line item that I just wanna highlight, and again, it's showing, too, for me, a business well-run also from a governance point of view.
Most of that ZAR 91.3 million in other income is as a result of a business interruption insurance claim that we instituted as a result of business interruption experienced with the hard lockdown from the end of March 2020. It took a long time to finalize. It was a complex claim, but again, we had that in place, and we could go to insurers and through that insurance in place got a COVID claim. Which again, as I said, is testimony to a business well-run or from a governance point of view, all the right insurances in place. Administration and other costs from a share-based payment point of view, where we switch to from a cash-based payment to an equity-settled as part of that move.
Slight increase in short-term incentive benefits, increase in exploration and project costs, and also IT costs. Testament as we've indicated to the market in our search for opportunities. We will not stop investing in our few operations that we have, but we are looking for other opportunities for growth in various parts. That's a positive indicator for me as well. Finance income stable year-on-year. Finance expense is mostly unwinding of the decommissioning and restoration liabilities. Income tax, as Niël alluded to, that number both the result of current and deferred tax. Profit for the year, again very similar to the operating profit declining 22%, but still more than ZAR 1.1 billion, which we're very proud of.
The statement of our next position or the balance sheet. Again, for me this is very pleasant reading. I hope even for non-accountants that will be. Property, plant and equipment, increased CapEx. You can see in that movement, assets above ZAR 3 billion. Non-current investments in other assets. The majority of that balance, more than ZAR 700 million sitting in rehabilitation and other funds. Again, what we've indicated to the market, if you look at the size of the present value of our rehabilitation liability, that money set aside is at the present value level more than what is required. Which is almost a unique position, I believe, in the mining industry. A position that we're very proud of and that we've built up over many years.
A consequence of the fact that we take money to rehabilitate on a concurrent basis. You'll see that every year in our results. We don't wait for rehabilitation. If there's a lift on a dam, for example, at the Brakpan Withok facility, or even at Driefontein 4, we do that rehabilitation as it happens, so we don't wait. So obviously that reduces any dust exposure. Then there's also in that line, some other investments at fair value, the biggest one being our investment in Rand Refinery. Cash and cash equivalents of ZAR 2.5 billion, we'll analyze in the cash flow statement. And then other current assets, a slight increase in inventories year on year. Then a wider pleasant reading.
Equity increases, and I know everyone understands that that normally happens when your assets grow more than your liabilities, which is an excellent position. Provision for environmental rehabilitation, again, very well managed. It's also a consequence of changes in the life of mine for both Ergo and Far West. For example, for Ergo, we're looking at the possibility, and it has been included as a mineral reserve of mining Daggafontein. That obviously has an impact on the manner of settlement and also on the timing to measure the present value of that liability. Deferred tax, yes, as we invest in our business, there is the possibility always that we'll generate taxable income in the future, of which we will pay more tax. That increase in deferred tax liability.
Current liability, slight increase in trade and other payables year-over-year. An extremely healthy 4.9 current ratio that we're also maintaining. The cash flow statement, just to end off before I hand back to Niël. Very well managed year-over-year, close to net cash from operating activities of ZAR 1.5 billion. Interest received and dividends, also from Rand Refinery in that line of ZAR 152 million. Income tax that Niël mentioned, slightly lower than the prior year, obviously responding to slightly lower profitability in our business. A number that I wanna emphasize that we've talked to now, both sustaining and also going forward in growth capital. The ZAR 584.1 million that we've spent is an increase of 48% year-over-year.
We came close to the ZAR 600 million that we guided the market. We're very proud to manage a number of projects, and that will continue for our business in the foreseeable future, and that's very exciting. The dividend that you see there, the ZAR 513 million, is obviously last year's final dividend. The 2021 final dividend of ZAR 0.44, and the interim dividend in February, declared that we paid in March of ZAR 0.20. The total of those shows the ZAR 513 million outflow. Year-on-year, we're in a marvelous position.
16% increase in cash and cash equivalents, which again, puts our business in a wonderful position to continue on this sustaining CapEx and growth CapEx phase, and also keep on looking for other opportunities to increase the growth in our business. On that, I'm gonna hand over back to Niël. Please, Mr. Pretorius.
Thanks, Riaan. Let me just move on to the next slide. Talk a little bit broadly, more broadly about our ESG and strategy going forward. All right, there we go. That's obviously share price performance. Share price pretty much trended the industry down quite a lot from where we were a year ago. Perhaps in anticipation of an economic recovery and a lowering of the gold price. Whether that's going to happen is anybody's guess. We do seem to offer an interesting buying opportunity at this moment in terms of share price performance. All right. Moving on to ESG, the theme of the day. What is ESG? ESG is a measure of sustainable development.
Those of you been following our story for the last decade or so would know that sustainable development is deeply embedded in our strategic thinking. Nothing we do without considering the impact that what we intend doing has on the different capital stocks that make up the composite of sustainable development. As a consequence, the story that we have to tell is one based on actual fact, and one which I believe is different in the sense that it presents a story or a picture of integrated value. All that means really is that value in the one also contributes to value in the other. It is not independent. These aren't things that run in silos or in isolated within a sort of an isolated band.
What we do environmentally impacts on the financial bottom line, and what we do in terms of our operating performance impacts environmentally. I'm not quite sure whether this slide is 100% showing what it should be showing, but I'm sure it'll pick up as we go along. Let me reflect just very briefly on some of the parameters here. Decrease in externally sourced potable water. It's one of our key risks that we identified quite a number of years ago. Both from an operational perspective as well as an environmental perspective, we're committed to reducing potable water usage by at least 10% every year. We've consistently done so on an aggregate over that period. That's a target that we very seldom miss.
I think last year it increased marginally with the addition of circuitry in Far West Gold Recoveries, if I'm not mistaken. It's also off the basis of an integrated closed circuit of water that stays in circuit at Ergo. All the water that we introduce into that circuit, most of it from groundwater resources, retained or is retained in the circuit itself, and the only water that leaves that circuit is through evaporation. It gets used over and over and over again. The rehabilitation spend is also something that I think is deeply embedded in our spending profile. As a consequence of that, a lot of the work that we've done, particularly from the cladding and vegetation of our tailings dams, is nearing the tail end.
Whereas 10 years ago, 12 years ago, if you drove from Roodepoort through to the south of Johannesburg, through the Crown complex, and it was a windy day, you'd be covered in dust. If you lived there, you'd be washing your curtains once, twice, three times a month. Those days are something of the past. To all intents and purposes, the dust on those facilities being contained. The same applies to all of the other tailings dams that we have. I really encourage you, I invite you, in fact, go and have a look at the state that our permanent tailings storage facilities are in and compare that to some of the others that you may find in the industry, just in terms of cladding and vegetation.
I believe that this has truly become work that establishes the benchmark of what good governance, environmentally speaking, is all about when it comes to the management of tailings. Not coincidental. You can see what the numbers are there in terms of additional vegetation. We're now nearing the tail end of vegetation. Most of the slopes that are in the teeth of the wind have been cladded, have been vegetated, and hence you see that very significant reduction in visible dust, felt dust in those areas where those dams are situated. Now, just in terms of tailings management. It's become the topic of the day, and one of the things that we think we can offer as an additional service beyond the boundaries of our own business is a complete tailings management solution combined with concurrent rehabilitation.
Apply some capital and the remaining revenue-generating capacity of your mine waste. Apply that, combine it, and apply it towards closure and also responsible containment of your environmental footprint. In order to do that, you obviously need to be aligned with contemporary thinking in terms of standards of management, quality of management of tailings dams, because that's where our skill set lies. We run some of the largest upstream tailings dams in the industry, not just locally, but I suppose also, I would imagine, internationally. Although there's a big move away from upstream deposition, where the one bench is on top of the next, and it sort of moves inward towards the top as opposed to downward.
Although the sentiment at the moment is away from that, the reality is that there are many of those out there, and they need to be managed responsibly. They need to be managed safely and in a way that limits their impact on the environment. That's where we earn in our skills. That's where our focus really lies, in becoming the benchmark in the industry on that and maintaining the highest standards. Not necessarily 100% aligned with some of the generic codes that we see at the moment, but without a doubt, achieving the outcomes that are being envisaged in those codes. If you just read the bottom. Sorry, I'm pointing at my screen here, and you can't see that. If you just read the bottom part here, I hope you can see my cursor.
Of the stuff that's happening there in terms of tailings management, this is governance of a very good nature, of a very high standard. The independent tailings performance management system that we have with international authorities. Independent international authorities have seats on that panel, and they hold up a mirror to what we do. They point out the things that they believe we ought to be doing in order to get closer and closer to the status that we're trying to achieve. What I can tell you is some of those standards, for example, freeboard, which is an important one. The one that if you neglect it, brings you closest to an overtopping and a failure of a tailings dam. We're way ahead of what the international standard is, even in terms of our own.
Even in terms of the own yardsticks that we apply. This is being monitored independently, and there's a direct line from this into the board. There's no sugarcoating of information. What they see is what the board sees. One that I'm particularly excited about because I do believe that technology plays such an important role in managing an industry that is this complex and of at this scale, and that is the use of InSAR imagery. This is satellite imagery that really picks up the slightest movement in just the shape, height, and width of a tailings facility. If there's any movement of a sidewall, then this gets picked up, and it's brought to your attention. You know that there's something happening in the belly of that dam that you need to be aware of.
More often than not, it would be involving phreatic surface, be related to the management of water. Then there's the quarterly drone surveillance as well to make sure that all of our facilities are working, all the drains are draining, that you don't have washdowns, that you don't have little rat holes appearing, that could compromise the safety of that dam. Something that we take a very, very close look at, and try to maintain high levels of diligence and good governance. In terms of the environmental value add or our environmental dividends, all about containment, in terms of our tailings dams and restoration and reversal of the impacts of mining, on the landscape, on the environment in terms of the retreatment.
The sites that we retreat are retreated back to a point where they can either be applied for sustainable use or we're restoring nature. Many of the old tailings dams around the Johannesburg area are built in lower-lying areas where they've spoiled potentially flat areas or environmentally sensitive areas. From a biodiversity perspective and from a restoration of environment perspective, these are important considerations. Just looking at the performance for the year. New hectares vegetated, 58 hectares. With the various amount of rainstorms that we had, obviously we had some damage to vegetation as well. Some of the dams and about another 25 hectares, maybe 30 hectares of damaged areas were also vegetated during the course of the year.
Closer to about 80 hectares if you add those to the number. You can see where the electricity consumption was slightly down, but we use what we can get, I suppose. Not really. There were some units that weren't running for certain parts of the year. That's of course going to change quite a lot over the next year. The next three years, in fact. You had some 20 MW of solar power coming in. When we use power is going to change. When we use power off the grid, because part of this process in the first year involves installation of power storage units, where we'll be storing power during off-peak hours and drawing power during peak hours. It's a wonderful financial model.
It basically pays for itself if you use it only for that at the current pricing profile of the utilities company of Eskom. But that's an important one that we're looking out for and will more than half the carbon footprint of the business. Moving on to the next one. Our social involvement, just under ZAR 53 million spent on socio-economic development. Here too, focus is on sustainable development. If that makes sense. What we really want to achieve here, it's not just something that contributes towards the quality of life of our communities while we're around, but that outlives our involvement. A little bit more about that. Two slides away from this one, I'll talk a little bit more about that.
Importantly also, the terms of social performance is the wellbeing of our own staff. Creating a working environment that is both emotionally and physically safe. We have a very keen focus on gender-based violence, on creating awareness, on addressing behaviors and attitudes that lead to gender-based violence. It's something that the entire group, I believe is excited about, and we're getting very good cooperation in that regard, rolling that out also into our surrounding communities. Then also some employee support. Coming out of COVID with the financial pressures, with the isolation, et cetera. There were just so many pressures bearing down on people. The safety situation, security situation, the commute, getting back into sort of the normal swing of things in terms of the commute and just how these costs are just escalating.
What we're seeing is that staff are under pressure and staff support in that regard. Providing a facility that can do that is actually playing an important role. Many of our staff members are making use of this. It's not stigmatized. It's in fact encouraged. A lot of people actually do that. The next slide is slightly off the topic of social capital and into the governance aspect. There are these codes and standards that we aspire to and against which we measure our performance with reference to governance and with reference to sustainable development reporting. We believe that our programs are aligned with these and that we have a trending closer to the responsible, accountable impact assessment, contribution in the long term, sustainability. It's part of the narrative.
It's part of our business language that we developed over the last decade or so. Back to the social investment aspect and community support. I made mention of just the deeply unsettling events of July of last year when we saw rioting, destruction of property. I believe the impact on the economy was close to ZAR 55 billion there. We've always believed that it's impossible to conduct business successfully in a state of anarchy. Believing that you can be an island of stability in an ocean of instability is folly. As a consequence, there's always been a keen focus in our operation, in our business, on social stability and on the social wellbeing of our surrounding communities. What we've intentionally steered clear of is creating platforms for self-aggrandizement, political self-aggrandizement, and empowering individuals in the communities.
We've really gone to community members themselves, grassroots level, people who genuinely want to change their lives for the better, and all they need is just a bit of a nudge, a bit of knowledge, and an enabling environment. What we've seen here several years down the line, for more than 800, 8,000 rather, direct participants in our BBL program. The merits of this program has really caught on, and we saw that again now in the Far West there. In the recent past, when there was an interruption in income for many of those communities, that suddenly there was a surge also in the number of individuals taking up this BBL program. This is not a hydroponic scheme flapping in the wind after 4 years or 5 years, people turning up thinking that they've been given a job.
This is an opportunity to create your own future, to really write your own script. It's been taken up a number of notches. Not everybody wants to be involved in vegetable farming. The My Future initiative, which is more about life skills, about preparing you for life, making the right decisions when you're confronted with crossroads, et cetera, et cetera. Those are just one level up, two, three levels up on equipping individuals for a life outside of the informal settlement, outside of the situation that they've been subjected to their entire lives of poverty, squalor, and hopelessness. These we find are programs that are gaining in credibility and also establishing a very good platform for the next phase based on five pillars of turning informal settlements into sustainable villages, so to speak.
Quality of life, an economic model. There's a bit of sports and culture. There's an aesthetics element as well, and cleaning it up and making it just more aesthetically pleasing. Less of a rubble heap and more of a pleasing village, so to speak. This is something that we're doing in collaboration with our partner of many years, Umsizi, and also the University of Pretoria. 27 programs have been picked out of 41, and we believe that those will start to get a bit of traction now in the year going forward. This is essential. These are important dynamics, we believe, important programs which all corporations should really involve themselves in.
Some of the commentary that came out in the weeks after the riots last year is that to believe that you could protect yourself against this sort of thing by simply just increasing the height of the fence around your business or around your community, it's not gonna work. It's not sustainable. What we also saw was that it was society. It was private individuals grouping together and fighting off the riots. It was the establishment of different social relationships, of new social partnerships reaching out. We all have the same goal of living a better life. These programs, we believe, can actually be a catalyst in that regard.
It will remain core for many years to come until we've achieved the outcomes that we set out. It's not a substitute for government or the state, and it's not business saying to the state, "You're absolved. You don't have to worry about your duties anymore. We're gonna do it for you." This may be an expectation that business will keep promises made by state. That doesn't work. What this does achieve is to equip people with knowledge and with opportunity to improve their own lives in anticipation of better political governance and a different approach from the state, which here and there we've seen starting to happen.
All right, moving on to the next slide. We're looking ahead. In order to flourish in South Africa, in order to prosper in South Africa, you do need to take a very specific approach in terms of risk and in terms of some of the business interruptions that one may experience. There's the security element, there's the water element, there's the electricity element. We believe that those are things that we as a nation are capable of overcoming. We believe that South Africa has many good years ahead of it, that society is just strong enough, that the people of South Africa are resilient and determined to make this work, and therefore we will continue to invest in this.
We will continue to collaborate with those with positive energy, moving in the same direction and that share our consensus and our view for the future. We are therefore quite happy to offer the following guidance in terms of production. 160,000 ounces-180,000 ounces for the, again, depending mostly on volume throughput. Cash operating costs slightly up. That is both as a consequence of rising costs. We spoke about some of the logistics. We spoke about some of the availability. The fuel price has gone up 80% in less than a year. With an economy relying mostly on road transportation following the collapse of Transnet. You're obviously going to see that in some of your pricing as well, but also slightly lower production.
Still healthy against the gold price where it is. Expected CapEx of ZAR 1.4 billion, half of which roughly is strategic CapEx spend. A big chunk of that in generating our own power. For Ergo, all eyes are on the solar project of the 20 MW and the power storage project. We're moving further east in terms of our mine plan. You know, Riaan mentioned Daggafontein, which is also now being included as part of the future life of mine and the reserve statement. For Far West Gold Recoveries, commissioning of Driefontein 3. That's the second dam in our collection of dams.
This is going to be the catalyst also for opening up some of the other dams once we're in a position to up volume throughput to 780,000 tons per month. When we're there too, we're moving slightly east, further east and combining material from at least two dumps to make sure that we optimize the exploitation of this resource as well, that we don't pick the eyes out prematurely. Lots to be excited about going forward. There is a realism in our organization in terms of what it is that we're up against. We're not cynical. We're not trying to be funny in how we address some of these things or trying to be mean. We're really just calling it by its first name because that's really how you identify it for what it is.
Then we're moving forward with all those who are keen to collaborate with us on building a better future for this country and its people and making sure that we don't leave value on the table. That there's ore body that we've been entrusted with, that we deal with it responsibly and benefit primarily our shareholders and ultimately also for the benefit of the remaining stakeholders. That's it then in terms of past twelve months and a small glimpse into what we anticipate for the twelve months going forward. Thank you very much. We'll now take your questions.
I just wanna open the chat feature here, and then I should be able to see the questions. Well, is it just me or are there no questions? Riaan, looks like we covered everything.
Niël, there's one question.
Yeah. I just see one. I see one from, let me read it, from Arnold van Graan. Hello, Arnold. Niël, could you please give us a sense of how you see your same business CapEx evolving over the next three years?
Yes. Certainly, Arnold. Obviously the key focus areas for sustaining business CapEx for the next few years. Sustaining business is mostly focused on opening new pump stations and new dumps for retreatment. Two of those are happening in the next year. That's the number three dump, and then also further east at Ergo and Roycroft. In fact it's three. There's quite a bit of CapEx going into that. Then, work to the plants itself towards the improvements of efficiencies. Then from next year onwards, there's not a lot for this year other than the purchase consideration for the land where the RTSF is going to be built. There's about ZAR 15 million set aside for that.
From next year, the next financial year onwards, you'll see some big numbers coming through in terms of the expansion of the Brakpan tailings dam and also work on expanding Far West Gold Recoveries' tailings deposition facility. The Far West Gold Recoveries RTSF has gotta be up and running in 2029. We bought ourselves five years of interim deposition while we deal with the design specifications of the RTSF, the regional tailings facility. Construction there has to start two years before deposition, and deposition gotta start in 2029. That gives you a bit of a profile in terms of that. That's the staying business side.
We don't look at the investment into solar, the staying business, but I suppose it's part of that because it unlocks some of our resources by making power affordable or less expensive and more secure by having a flat cost profile for power going forward. Some of your resources convert to reserves and that extends life of mine and improves margin. There's quite a bit of that's going in there as well for the next three years-four years. Right. I actually don't see the comments. I'm not pressing the right button here. Oh, there it is. Are there plans for self-generation of power at Far West Gold Recoveries similar to those that you have at Ergo? Not individually.
I mean, we are looking at wheeling and drawing power at other Eskom substations once the 60 MW up and running. We are, however, in conversation with Sibanye-Stillwater. If something were to happen there, it will happen in collaboration with Sibanye-Stillwater. Individually, Martin, we won't be building our own power station. Not as yet. I mean, we don't have immediate plans to build one there. We'll be generating surplus at Ergo and then pulling some of it off the grid there. Next. Please give us a clearer idea of what's happening at Ergo, Grootvlei legal issue and Withok. All right. There isn't a legal issue in respect of Grootvlei that I'm aware of.
We have a prospecting permit over the Grootvlei dumps, and it's in resource. We're not including it in reserve. There is a claim of common law ownership in respect of those dumps, but we think it's opportunistic. No legal issue as yet. In terms of Withok. At Withok, in order to expand the size of Withok, we have to apply for a new water use license.
Certain portions of Withok have not been in use for a period of time, and there are provisions in the legislation guiding this that provides that if certain portions of land lie undisturbed or if a portion of land lies undisturbed for a period of time, before you put it back into use, you have to bring an application for a license. That process is up and running. We're going forward in terms of that process. Incidentally, a part of Withok was never decommissioned, was incorporated into the Brakpan tailings storage facility. Whether that is something that we believe we can rely on is yet to be seen. We're approaching it from the point of view of applying for a new license for Withok, a water usage license for Withok.
In terms of capital for Far West expansion. Capital for Far West for the next year is about a quarter of a billion ZAR, and about half of that is in terms of the number three dam. For the upgrading of the plant to doubling its size and also for the RTSF. There's not much CapEx this year. There's certainly no CapEx this year for the doubling of the site. That'll only happen in year two versus to year three. In terms of the tailings dam itself, we're just buying the land. We're not starting any major construction of the dam just yet. It's about a quarter of a billion ZAR that's going into Far West.
Martin is saying, "Going forward, do you expect to be recovering value from dumps internationally in the same way as you are in South Africa?" It depends. It really depends, Martin, on, you know, what you find. Dumps are difficult to mine off a greenfield site. In order to mine dumps successfully, there has to be a measure of, let's call it some capital of existing infrastructure in place. And those then get converted. I suppose one could construct a model depending on just how big you can go and how much water is available and the size of the tailings dam that you could build. But whether there are many of those out there, it's difficult to say.
We believe that the near-term value for us remains with Sibanye-Stillwater on being a little pilot fish. Their focus is hard rock mining. Our focus is tailings retreatment. The two are well aligned. There's no friction between those two models. We believe that the shortest route for us towards growth both locally and internationally is by staying close to Sibanye-Stillwater. We've been having very good conversations with them in that regard. Hopefully in the not-too-distant future we'll be in a position to say something tangible about that, about moving forward in terms of that.
In terms of offering our services as part of a business as a value proposition, offering our services as a complete tailings solution and impacting the rehabilitation exposure or liability of businesses positively by bringing concurrent rehabilitation into their model, driving that sort of thing. There's certainly. I believe that we can add value in that regard. I believe that sentiment is moving more towards being seen to close a mine as opposed to selling non-core businesses sort of five years or six years before they close. Within that context, we do believe that we can offer value. That would be more so the services offering. It wouldn't be ownership model.
Nick, the total CapEx is not in the public domain just yet. You're asking for Far West CapEx estimate over the project life, not just next year. That's not in the public domain. The reason being that the model hasn't been finalized. Once it has been finalized, we'll be able to put those numbers into the market. For the near term, for the next 12 months, it's just over ZAR 250 million. Then remember, one of the reasons why it's not in the public domain just yet is that we did a feasibility on the model as big as it can be. A 1.8 million ton plant and 800 million ton tailings deposition facility. That model works. It's robust.
In this sort of environment, you're not going to be spending all of that at the same time. You'll see in the letter that I again refer to the idea or the notion of planning big, but implementing incrementally. First doubling the size of Driefontein to the plant, then making use of or at the same time making use of a, let's call it a group asset in collaboration with Sibanye-Stillwater. Getting the design finalized. Or the model works, mind you, also on the basis of the current design, the current conditions with a synthetic liner. It's a lot cheaper to not have the synthetic liner, but you have another means of environmental containment that is equally effective.
Once we've decided on that, we will be putting those numbers out there as well. Riaan, I think the next question is for you from Sandile. "Can you please kindly provide guidance on the effective tax rate for 2023? Why was this low in 2022?
Thanks, Sandile. Yeah, obviously, as you know, we determine that by the gold tax formula. Obviously impacted this year by the amount of CapEx we've spent. Then you would've noted a good guide, maybe for 2023, but not specifically for that year going forward, is our measurement of the deferred tax liability. You saw that in or you will see it in the detailed booklet, where for Far West we decreased that rate from 30%- 29%. Obviously, as you know, the corporate general income tax rate also decreased, so that impacts the gold tax rate formula as well. For Ergo, we decreased the deferred tax rate from 25%- 22%.
Again, it's an estimated rate based on that formula, taking into account assumptions around gold price from CapEx and spend over the updated life of mine. So hopefully that will give you, yeah, a sense of deferred tax and how we look at that over the life. Yeah, then your question on grades, that is a given for us. That's something we deal with. But we look more, as Niël alluded to it, more towards volume as well. Yes, if you look at our mineral reserve overall, the grade is declining over time.
We'll have to manage that and hopefully we will be able to talk to that, as Niël said, at a time that we put that information together around fewer sites, managing our cost per ton, and managing the declining grade through volume and also stability in our operation side. But yes, that's something we have to deal with over time. But hopefully, and we will be publishing more information about our life with our. Obviously, this process now continues through our integrated report and full financial statements and also our 20-F filing in the US at the end of October with additional information that we will provide to the market at that point.
Niël, at the moment, for example, we have 15 operating sites. We hope to at least halve that over the next two years-three years. Many of those operating sites at Ergo are late-stage cleanup sites. Everywhere we have a presence that adds to your operating costs. By reducing the number of sites, by reducing the complexity, the makeup of the business, you're gonna you're going to be reducing your cost profile as well. By mining mainly from large volume individual sites, fewer sites but more volume from a particular site. The cost profile also changes, so you see a reduction in cost per ton. In terms of efficiencies, you know, there's an ongoing process to try and improve the recovery efficiency on a per ton basis.
This is something that will never stop. We refer to this project as cracking the code. There's always something new that comes on board. At the moment, these are small incremental improvements as we go along, this year was a good example of that. Notwithstanding the fact that operating conditions were very tough, especially weather-wise. Managing your densities when the weather is like that, when it's raining, it's always raining. Or when there's interruptions in flow, stopping and starting. It's not that easy, but the system has been adapted and improved to a point where it's being overcome a lot easier than what it was in the past. What used to be a three-week stoppage is now a two-hour inconvenience because of the changes that have been made over time.
This is ongoing. It's enhanced efficiencies, it's a simpler model, and it's mining from higher volumes from fewer sites. That's how you offset that. You can't fix the grade. I mean, the grade is the grade. You just need to do something with it. By the way, it levels out. It's not a linear trend. You have a head grade at a particular level, and then your resource changes, then it adjusts, and then it sort of it levels out again for a period of time until you move on to the next site. Yeah, Nick, I think in terms of your question with regards to budgeted operating costs, full costs, we've been fairly conservative in that regard.
I think what's been factored in is Riaan. I mean, you can help me out here, but I think it's yeah, we're not hoping for lower prices. We were fairly conservative, especially on the reagent side. I think we saw some big changes there.
Yeah. A simple answer there. We have forecasted or taken all the increases into account in our forecast or the guidance that we've provided, Nick. We have. We're comfortable with that. Obviously, we'll have to work hard to still get the tons and the kilos out, 'cause that's obviously not a only cost measure. Yes, it was a difficult budget, as we've alluded to in an environment with many products, services across the board increasing. We believe we have factored that into the budgeted cash operating costs.
Jaco, do you wanna add to that in terms of CapEx maybe?
I mean, to just tie up with what Riaan said. The only one that is still outstanding on the cost, Nick, is the Eskom increases. We've allowed for a significant increase, but we do understand that there was a case won by Eskom recently, and the full extent of how that is going to be implemented, we're not 100% sure. That's the only portion which we haven't allowed for 100%. We have allowed for a significant portion of that already. From a capital perspective, as Niël has indicated, we're expecting to spend approximately ZAR 1.4 billion worth of capital during this year. A significant increase in capital expenditure in one year.
Yeah. Thanks, Jaco. All right. I don't see any other questions. I think that is a wrap. Thank you very much everyone for joining us and for listening to our presentation, watching our presentation, and we'll keep you updated as we go along on anything material. Well, have a good day. Thank you.