Ivory Coast Tongon Gold Mine On Track - Randgold CEO
20 7월 2009 - 10:06PM
Dow Jones News
Construction work at a gold mine at Tongon in the north of Ivory
Coast is on schedule, under budget and on track to start production
in the final quarter of 2010, Mark Bristow, chief executive of
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS.LN), told Dow Jones Newswires
Sunday.
The deposits at Tongon are estimated at 3.16 million troy ounces
and Randgold is looking to expand this resource base further.
"The challenge here is going to be managing the political
situation. Our first big mill arrives on Dec. 10 and that is really
the thing that drives the whole production process," said
Bristow.
Presidential elections in Ivory Coast are scheduled for 29 Nov.,
2009, although they have been repeatedly postponed since 2005.
The elections would be a major advance in normalization after
the 2002-07 civil war.
The mill is being brought into Ivory Coast's second port, San
Pedro, to avoid potential trouble in the main city Abidjan.
The first permit for the site was granted in 1996, but plans
were put on hold because of the civil war. Randgold maintained a
presence in the country.
At the weekend, Bristow led a government delegation to the
Tongon site in the far north of Ivory Coast, near the border with
Mali.
The first stage of construction on the site's dam has finished
allowing enough water to be collected in the recent main rainy
season to provide water for the construction and startup phase.
The dam will eventually supply all the mine's water needs.
"It's the one area that Randgold can stand above anyone else in
Africa that in all our mines you can drink the water," Bristow
said.
On the other side of the border with Mali, Randgold has been
operating the Morila site, a joint-venture with AngloGold Ashanti
Ltd. (AU), since 2000. In 2008 it produced 426,000oz.
The other big mine in Mali, with production in 2008 at
258,000oz, is at the Loulo complex.
Bristow said the mine was on a critical path: "It's a sweat but
we deliver and we keep delivering."
The mine employs more than 2,000 people and he said there had
been a few social issues to deal with over the past quarter.
Randgold's quarterly results published next week will show a
material increase in production, he said.
A new discovery in the district at Gonkoto, 20km south of the
main mine, is delivering some "blistering results."
This site will be developed alongside another discovery at
Massawa in Senegal.
Here a prefeasibility study should be completed this year, with
construction starting in 2011.
"We're very committed to the gold market - we think it's a great
time to be there. The gold market is very well poised with the
noise from China and Russia on an alternate currency, which is very
good for gold, because the euro's not big enough to support
that."
-By John James; Dow Jones Newswires; +225 20221805;
james_john@hotmail.com