8th Feb 2016 07:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - Randgold Resources Ltd on Monday said 2015 was "one of the best years in the company's history" despite experiencing a large drop in profit as it continued to battle the downturn in the market.
The gold miner reported a USD260.8 million pretax profit in 2015, falling from USD353.0 million a year earlier, as revenue experienced slipped slightly USD1.00 billion from USD1.08 billion - but the miner is expecting a ramp up in production and lower cash costs during 2016.
Production and costs in the year were in line with expectations, as Randgold set a new production record of 1.2 million ounces, up 6% from 2014, whilst cash costs were down 3% year-on-year to USD679 per ounce. Sales were broadly in line with production.
However, gold prices were also much lower in 2015, averaging USD1,152 per ounce compared to USD1,264 per ounce in 2014.
Despite the fall in profit, Randgold upped its dividend for 2015 by 10% to 66.0 cents per share from 60.0 cents per share last year.
"It's easy to achieve when the stars are all aligned, but it's a lot more difficult in a market as challenged as this one, which makes these results even more pleasing," said Chief Executive Mark Bristow.
"Operationally, Loulo-Gounkoto came back strongly in 2015 after a shaky start to the year while Kibali again beat its forecast. Tongon continues to improve its performance on the back of its plant upgrade and expansion programme and the retreatment operation at Morila, now scheduled for closure in 2019, remains profitable," Randgold added.
Randgold said annual production from each its two biggest producing mines, Loulo-Gounkoto and Kibali, is set to be around 600,000 ounces of gold per mine, with an even lower cash cost of around USD600 per ounce, whilst the Tongon mine is set to produce 300,000 ounces a year.
Loulo-Gounkoto is Mali whilst the Tongon and Kibali mines are based in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Randgold said its cash balance was boosted by strong cashflows in the year, with a balance of USD213.4 million at the end of the year.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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