7th Feb 2005 07:00
Randgold Resources Ld07 February 2005 Randgold Resources Limited Incorporated in Jersey, Channel Islands Reg. No. 62686 LSE Trading Symbol: RRS Nasdaq Trading Symbol: GOLD RANDGOLD RESOURCES DELIVERS ANOTHER ROBUST PERFORMANCE, STARTS MINING AT LOULO London, 7 February 2005 - London (RRS) and Nasdaq (GOLD) listed gold minerRandgold Resources closed the year to 31 December with a profit that exceededexpectations, on the brink of opening its new Loulo mine, and drilling atfurther prospects in four African countries. The results for the year, reported today, show a net profit ahead of forecast atUS$20.1 million, thanks to a strong last quarter when the remedial actions thecompany initiated at its Morila joint venture helped produce an improvedperformance. Having stuttered for the preceding three quarters because ofexpansion commissioning problems, Morila delivered a significant recovery in thelast three months, boosting profit to US$21.3 million from US$3.3 million in thethird quarter on the back of improvements in grade, recoveries and throughput. Morila's gold output for 2004 was 510 485 ounces, below the forecast at thebeginning of the year of 535 000 ounces but better than expectations at thethird quarter stage. Almost half of this - 226 679 ounces - was produced in thelast quarter at a total cash cost of US$136/oz. Mill throughput for thisquarter averaged 337 000 tonnes per month, just short of the design capacity forthe expanded plant. The company said the challenge now was to settle throughputat the 350 000 tonnes per month level and then to find ways of optimisingperformance and managing the cost down. At Loulo, meanwhile, progress on the development of the open-pit mine stepped upa gear with the start of mining operations and the shipment of the ball millsfrom South Africa in January. Loulo drew down the first tranche of its projectfinance in December and expenditure had amounted to US$62.2 million by theyear-end. The mine is scheduled to produce its first gold in July this year. The study on an underground development at Loulo is continuing and deep drillingto date has taken the Loulo resource past the 7 million-ounce mark. Because ofa decision to increase the scope of the drilling programme, the study has beendesigned to follow a phased approach with the next report being based on allavailable information as of the end of March. During the past quarter the company also accelerated its exploration programmesacross east and west Africa. In addition to continuing exploration at andaround Loulo and Morila in Mali, it is currently active in four other countries. In Senegal, drilling has started on four targets while additional targets arebeing evaluated through surface exploration. In Burkina Faso, reconnaissancedrilling at Danfora has outlined encouraging results which are being used todevelop follow-up programmes. In Ghana, the extension to the main Obuasi shearhas been defined and work is under way on the three-dimensional modelling ofthese data. The outcome of this review will determine whether the company willprogress to the next phase. In Tanzania, gold assay results are pending onrecent drilling in the Mara belt while early-stage exploration is being carriedout on the Musoma belt. The company was developing a new concept whereby it wasinvestigating the similarities between the Musoma-Mara gold belt and those ofthe Southern Lake Victoria goldfields. The company was doing generative work totest this concept as well as to identify additional opportunities. "The past year has again seen Randgold Resources delivering on its promises.Loulo is taking shape rapidly and the potential value of the project iscontinuing to increase significantly. Morila is just about back on track, andwe're looking at production in excess of 600 000 ounces at a total cash cost ofaround US$200/oz for 2005. We've steadily expanded our African footprint andthis year we'll be active in six countries - including Cote d'Ivoire, wherewe're currently updating the prefeasibility study on our Tongon project inanticipation of that country's normalisation. We have cash resources of almostUS$80 million to fund any additional equity portion of Loulo's development aswell as to pursue attractive opportunities at the corporate level," chiefexecutive Dr Mark Bristow said. "Randgold Resources marks the tenth anniversary of its establishment this year.It has matured into a fully integrated, independent gold mining company, whichranks as a leader among the industry's mid-caps, on the back of a clear,unwavering strategy designed to create and deliver value. This strategy,coupled to a proven management team, a substantial asset base and a portfolio ofhighly promising prospects, will drive the company on to its next growth phase." WORKING TOWARDS COMPLIANCE WITH SARBANESOXLEY London, 7 February 2005 (LSE:RRS) (Nasdaq:GOLD) - At the end of 2005, RandgoldResources will have to report on management's assessment of controls overfinancial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act(SOX). This Act was passed in the USA in 2002 to tighten up the accuracy ofcompany reporting in the wake of the Enron debacle and other high-profilecorporate failures. "A team from the company, assisted by KPMG, is working to achieve compliance inthe most efficient and cost-effective manner possible. Except for somefine-tuning, the documentation is complete. We've identified some controlweaknesses which are being remediated, particularly at Morila, and will dodry-run testing later this year," says financial director Roger Williams. "In many ways, SOX represents a return to a more traditional way of managing andcontrolling a company. We see it as an additional discipline which will standus in good stead in running the business." The essence of Section 404 is that management is responsible for internalcontrols over financial reporting, and that their stated assertion of theeffectiveness of these controls must be externally audited and stated in theannual report. RANDGOLD RESOURCES ENQUIRIES: Chief Executive - Dr Mark Bristow +44 779 775 2288 Financial Director - Roger Williams +44 791 709 8939 Investor & Media Relations - Kathy du Plessis +27 11 728 4701, Cell: +27 (0) 83 266 5847 [email protected] Website: www.randgoldresources.com DISCLAIMER: Statements made in this document with respect to Randgold Resources'current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs and other statements that arenot historical facts are forwardlooking statements about the future performanceof Randgold Resources. These statements are based on management's assumptionsand beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. RandgoldResources cautions you that a number of important risks and uncertainties couldcause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in theforward-looking statements, and therefore you should not place undue reliance onthem. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, risksassociated with: fluctuations in the market price of gold, gold production atMorila, the development of Loulo and estimates of resources, reserves and minelife. For a discussion on such risk factors, refer to the annual report on Form20-F for the year ended 31 December 2003, which was filed with the United StatesSecurities and Exchange Commission (the 'SEC') on 30 June 2004. RandgoldResources assumes no obligation to update information in this release.Cautionary Note to US Investors: The SEC permits companies, in their filingswith the SEC, to disclose only proven and probable ore reserves. We use certainterms in this release, such as "resources", that the SEC does not recognise andstrictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. Investors arecautioned not to assume that all or any part of our resources will ever beconverted into reserves which qualify as 'proven and probable reserves' for thepurposes of the SEC's industry guide number 7. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Randgold Resources