AMN - MALI: Loulo-Gounkoto plans another record year

Randgold Resources’ Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex in Mali is expected to report another new production record rounding off on a high note what has been a good year for the company’s flagship operation.
Speaking to local media at a briefing recently, chief executive Mark Bristow says that as indicated in the third quarter, the company was on track to report that it had exceeded its production guidance of 670 000 ounces of gold for 2016, and would maintain an annual production of plus 600 000 ounces for at least the next 10 years. This should be supported by the decision to proceed with the Gounkoto super pit project, once approved by the board.
“The Loulo-Gounkoto complex is not just world-class, it is the best in its class by any measure, from the quality of its all-Malian management team through its successful owner-mining underground operation to its exemplary safety, health and environmental management programs,” he said.
Bristow says Randgold has been involved in Mali for 20 years and in that time has made an enormous difference for the better in the country. At the national level it has paid more than $2 billion to the state in taxes and dividends and contributed another $2.9 billion to the economy in the form of salaries, community investments and payments to local suppliers. Its Malian operations routinely account for between 6% and 10% of the country’s GDP.
“We have taken great care to ensure that all our stakeholders – and not least our host government and our local communities – have shared equitably in the value we have created,” he said
“In partnership with the government we have also developed Mali into one of the world’s premier gold exploration and mining destinations, creating a solid foundation for general economic growth which together with the new mining companies in the industry can still be improved upon.”
Mark Bristow says Randgold is committed to further investment in Mali, not only with regards to exploration and its own mining businesses but also in community projects aligned to its sustainability-focused social responsibility policy.
In the latter regard he noted that significant progress was being made with the establishment of agripole at Morila, Randgold’s other operation in Mali. In partnership with local NGOs, the Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Industrial Development, a model is being prepared that will demonstrate there is an opportunity to develop a sustainable agribusiness capable of providing a local source of economic activity after Morila’s closure which will shortly be presented to Mali’s Council of Ministers and the Morila board.
Mark Bristow also says that Randgold’s investment in exploration continued to be a key part of the company’s long term strategy in Mali with exploration teams progressing targets across western Mali during the fourth quarter of the year. At Loulo itself, brownfields exploration again demonstrated the quality of Randgold’s ore bodies with more than 600 000 ounces of inferred resources added through drilling at Gara in 2016 while recent studies at the Yalea deposit had identified a number of targets for follow-up in 2017.

www.randgoldresources.com