27th Jul 2015 06:35
LONDON (Alliance News) - Randgold Resources Ltd on Monday said it is making progress across all of its assets in the Ivory Coast, as the company's chief executive affirmed his commitment to the country.
"We are very encouraged by the government's commitment to building and diversifying the Ivorian economy, among other things by facilitating foreign investment. Combined with the country's geological assets, this is creating new opportunities for the mining industry which Randgold, with its long-established presence here, is particularly well placed to grasp," said Chief Executive Mark Bristow.
Bristow, speaking at the company's quarterly update for local media, said the recovery rate at the Tongon mine has been "improving" after commissioning new hydrocone crushers and said the company will increase capacity further by installing three additional crushers.
Hydrocone crushers are ideal for secondary and tertiary crushing and are considered more reliable than other crushers.
"Looking beyond Tongon, we've stepped up our exploration effort in Côte d'Ivoire on the back of its positive new mining code, and the results are confirming our belief in the high potential of the country's prospectivity," he said.
"We've taken a fresh look at our Nielle permit, which hosts Tongon, and a number of targets for follow-up have already been generated. The most exciting suite of new targets is in the Boundiali permit. These include the very significant new target, Fonondara, and a series of other targets covering a strike of 60 kilometres at the western margin of the Boundiali belt, believed to be an extension of the Syama belt in Mali. A first-phase diamond drilling programme is currently underway at Fonondara and Sani," said Bristow.
At Fonondara, Randgold has found a section which averages 16 metres at 2.96 grammes of gold per tonne over six trenches over a 1.5 kilometres strike length, the chief executive said. The best results to date were 16.53 metres at 3.38 grammes of gold per tonne, including 7.4 metres at 5.88 grammes of gold per tonne from the main zone and 8.83 metres at 28.62 grammes of gold per tonne from the footwall. The company is expecting the results from Sani shortly.
On the Mankono permit, a "very promising" bulk mining target has also been identified, Bristow said, with trenches grading up to 1.8 grammes of gold per tonne over widths of 100 metres, and on the Fapoha permit, just south of the Nielle permit, three contiguous targets have delivered good initial sampling grades over a 13 kilometre strike with consistently anomalous pits in the target structure grading up to 8 grammes of gold per tonne.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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