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Company Information for Randgold Resources Ltd

Company stock charts - 12 Month chart

Exchange LSE; RRS


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Exchange NASDAQ; GOLD


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Company Statement

Randgold Resources is an African focused gold mining and exploration business incorporated in the Channel Islands in 1995 and listed on the London Stock Exchange (RRS) in 1997 and on Nasdaq (GOLD) in 2002.

Its discoveries to date include the 7.5 million ounce Morila deposit in southern Mali, the +7 million ounce Yalea deposit at Loulo in western Mali and the 3 million ounce Tongon deposit in the Côte d’Ivoire.

The company financed and developed the Morila mine which was brought into production in October 2000 and since then has produced more than 4 million ounces of gold. It also financed and developed the Loulo mine, which was officially opened in November 2005. Loulo’s gold production is planned to average 250 000 ounces per year until 2009 will the Yalea underground mine will start contributing. This will significantly increase Loulo’s production and life.

At the Tongon project in Côte d’Ivoire a 30 000m drilling programme is presently underway and will form the basis for a feasibility study on the development of the mine.

Randgold Resources’ focus is on the creation of value for all stakeholders by finding and converting world class gold deposits into profits.  This is supported by exploration projects in all the major gold regions of Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Tanzania as well as its generative team’s ongoing search for new opportunities to replenish its portfolio of prospective targets.


Current Operations

LOULO GOLD MINE
After a good start, the underground development at Yalea was slowed down this quarter by difficulties experienced in developing through poor ground associated with a weathered zone. In order to deal with the ground conditions and to ensure the longevity of the twin declines, steel arches with steel reinforcing between them are being installed after each blast, followed by the erection of shuttering and pouring of concrete. This encases the perimeter of each tunnel in solid steel-reinforced concrete providing safety for workers and ensuring the integrity of the tunnels for the plus twenty year life of the mine.

The declines have now been developed 460 metres from surface at a depth of 86 metres.

While every endeavour will be made to access the ore this year, our paramount concerns are safety and the installation of efficient infrastructure to serve a long life underground mine. Consequently, we are developing plans to make up for any shortfall that is experienced this year by increased production next year.

The construction of the concrete tunnels inside the boxcut continued during the quarter. Both decline floors have been completed (with the exception of 25 metres on the conveyor decline portal section) and work started on the first wall and roof sections of the vehicle decline. The steel work is all on site and steel erection is progressing well. Other site construction work on surface continued through the quarter. It is expected that the last outstanding work on this phase, the fuel depot, will be completed during the current quarter.

The underground project is still relatively new and is subject to continuous enhancement and optimisation. One such enhancement is the addition of the area in Yalea South which has up until now been excluded from mine planning due to the weathering profile that extends to depth in this area. A total of 2 664 107 tonnes is mineable from the Yalea South extension at a grade of 4.51g/t, yielding 385 927 ounces. The scheduling of this area with the rest of Yalea is currently underway.

Tongon
The results of an updated prefeasibility scoping study have shown a substantial increase in the reserves and resources at the Tongon project with total resources increasing by 41% to 4.39Moz. The intensive drilling programme completed before the onset of the wet season (20 000 metres plus) has allowed for remodelling of both the southern and northern zones and construction of revised grade models.

Open pit resources are those resources falling within a US$800/oz pit shell and potential underground resources for the northern zone are those resources above a 2g/t pay limit occurring below the US$800/oz pit shell. In pit reserves and mineable resources were calculated using a gold price of US$525/oz pit shell.

Morila Gold Mine
Morila produced 130 568 ounces of gold during the quarter at a total cash cost of US$289/oz (cash operating cost of US$241/oz), as opposed to 86 832 ounces at US$403/oz (cash operating cost of US$355/oz) in the previous quarter. The increase in gold production was as a result of a much better mining rate enabling access to the higher grade faces. The increase in milled grade, from 2.8g/t to 4.3g/t, resulted in increased lockup in the plant. This was compounded by operational issues, specifically the failure of impellers in the flotation tanks, without which the gold produced could have been significantly higher.

Loulo Gold Mine
Loulo produced 58 020 ounces of gold during the quarter at a total cash cost of US$398/oz (cash operating cost of US$363/oz), compared to last quarter's record production of 70 660 ounces at US$340/oz (cash operating cost of US$304/oz).

The mining contractor continued to struggle with the availability of its loading equipment but by the end of the quarter, they had mobilised additional equipment. As a result of the poor performance of the mining contractor, plant throughput was negatively affected as the stockpiles intended for the annual wet season had been depleted in the previous quarter and ore, mainly from the Gara pit, was fed directly to the plant. This in turn impacted on the operation’s ability to produce the required tonnage at the budgeted cost, as the ore from the Gara pit is particularly abrasive when fed on its own, which resulted in substantially higher than normal consumption of crusher liners and grinding media, partially offset by lower mining costs and improved recoveries. Should the additional equipment be deployed timeously, the contractor will be in a position to meet its contractual obligations and there should be an increase in operational flexibility.


Geographical Spread

Mali - production and exploration
Senegal - exploration
Burkina Faso - exploration
Cote d'Ivoire - Feasibility and exploration
Ghana - exploration
Tanzania - exploration


Board of Directors and Key Management

Philippe Liétard(Non-executive chairman)
Mark Bristow (CEO)
Graham Shuttleworth (CFO)
Bernard Asher (Snr independent non-executive)
Robert Israel(Non-executive)
Aubrey Paverd(Non-executive)
Norborne P Cole, Jr(Non-executive)
Karl Voltaire (Non-executive)

Company Address

La Motte Chambers
La Motte Street
St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, United Kingdom

Telephone:+44 2534 735 333
Facsimile:+44 1534 735 444
Email:lwark[at]randgoldresources.com
Website:http://www.randgoldresources.com

Capital

68.8 shares at US$22.36 each (as at 21 June 2007)

Annual General Meeting

April

Year End

31 December

Nominated Brokers

HSBC Investment Bank plc

Related News

06/08/08 - Randgold Resources Reports Encouraging Interims But Appears To Have Difficulty Keeping Its Friends
05/02/08 - Randgold Resources May Now Be Able To Buy The Rest Of Morila
20/08/07 - Randgold’s Loulo Complex In Western Mali Could Become The Focal Point Of A Major New Goldfield
06/02/07 - Randgold Resources Builds Strong Pipeline Of Production And Exploration Projects

Most Recent Statement

31/07/08 - HALF-YEAR PROFIT DOUBLES DESPITE INCREASED COSTS
28/04/08 - RANDGOLD RESOURCES UPS STAKE IN TONGON PROJECT
02/04/08 - RANDGOLD RESOURCES REPORTS SIGNIFICANT RISE IN RESERVES AND RESOURCES
10/12/07 - EXERCISE OF OVER-ALLOTMENT OPTION
29/11/07 - RANDGOLD RESOURCES PRICES GLOBAL OFFERING OF NEW SHARES
28/11/07 - Global offer of 6m new shares

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