Kibali Gears Up for Earlier Construction Start
JERSEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS -- (Marketwire) -- 07/21/10 -- Construction on the Kibali project, potentially one of the world's largest gold mines, is being targeted to start in mid 2011, six months earlier than originally anticipated, project manager Randgold Resources announced today.
Mark Bristow, chairman of Kibali and chief executive of Randgold Resources, said the earlier start-up target date was attributable to the encouraging progress that had been made on the pre-development programmes as well as the active cooperation of the local community and the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which holds a 10% stake in the project through the parastatal OKIMO. Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) (NASDAQ: GOLD) and AngloGold Ashanti (JSE: ANG) (NYSE: AU) (ASX: AGG) (LSE: AGD) (GhSE: AGA/AAD) each have a 45% interest.
International-standard baseline studies on the project's environmental and social impact are well advanced, as is the public participation process, and a resettlement programme is in the final stages of planning. The new 178 kilometre road to neighbouring Uganda, which is central to the project's logistics, is now at a stage which allows normal non-four wheel drive vehicular access and it is planned to continue upgrading it in phases. In addition, the road between the Ugandan and DRC border posts has been upgraded. The project partners are also making progress with the development of a power supply strategy designed to supply the mine with affordable and adequate power.
Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser, to view the associated PDF document.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/6739P_1-2010-7-21.pdf
RANDGOLD RESOURCES LIMITED
Incorporated in Jersey, Channel Islands
Reg. No. 62686
LSE Trading Symbol: RRS
Nasdaq Trading Symbol: GOLD
ENQUIRIES:
Mark Bristow
Kibali chairman & Randgold CEO
+223 6675 0122/+44 788 071 1386
Louis Watum
GM Kibali Goldmines
+243 994 035 464/+256 782 239 767
Willem Jacobs
Randgold GM operations Central & E Africa
+27 72 614 4053/+27 82 905 6797
Kathy du Plessis
Randgold investor & media relations
+44 20 7557 7738
Website: www.randgoldresources.com
