13th Jan 2005 10:22
Randgold Resources Ld13 January 2005 Randgold Resources LimitedIncorporated in Jersey, Channel IslandsReg. No. 62686LSE Trading Symbol: RRSNasdaq Trading Symbol: GOLD ABNORMAL-LOAD MILLS START LONG JOURNEY TO RANDGOLD RESOURCES' NEW LOULO MINE IN MALI Johannesburg, 13 January 2005 (LSE:RRS)(NASDAQ:GOLD) - The two ball millsdestined for Randgold Resources' new gold mine at Loulo in Mali left today in ademanding logistical exercise. The mills were fabricated to a Krupp Polysiusdesign at the Vecor Duncanville Works of Dorbyl Heavy Engineering atVanderbijlpark near Johannesburg. In the first stage of the process, the mill shells, ends and feed chutes will betaken by road to Richards Bay from where they will be shipped on a charteredvessel to the port of Dakar in Senegal. From Senegal they will be transportedsome 1 000 kilometres across country by road to the site where the Loulo mine isbeing built at present. Each of the mill shells is being transported in a single piece measuring 5.5metres in diameter and 8.0 metres in length, and weighing some 103 tonnes. The Loulo mine is being developed at a cost of US$85 million, of which RandgoldResources has spent some R200 million in South Africa to date. Work on themine, which is due to go into production in the middle of 2005, is currently onschedule. Randgold Resources has been active in Mali for nearly ten years and has played amajor part in the growth of the country's gold mining industry, currently rankedthird in Africa. To date in excess of $300 million has been invested in thecountry. John Steele, Randgold Resources' general manager: capital projects, said fromMali today that it was the company's policy to source its materials from Westand South Africa to the largest extent possible. This was supported by thesophisticated supply chain the company had developed in Africa. General manager of the Loulo mine Amadou Konta noted that aside from thesubstantial wealth directly created for Mali through gold mining, the country'seconomy was also benefiting greatly from such knock-on benefits asinfrastructure development, job creation, the growth of feeder industries andinvestment in sustainable development within the local communities by the majormining companies. RANDGOLD RESOURCES ENQUIRIES: Chief Executive - Dr Mark Bristow +44 779 775 2288 Financial Director - Roger Williams +44 779 771 9660 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 RandgoldResources' current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs and other statementsthat are not historical facts are forward-looking statements about the futureperformance of Randgold Resources. These statements are based on management'sassumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it.Randgold Resources cautions you that a number of important risks anduncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from thosediscussed in the forward-looking statements, and therefore you should not placeundue reliance on them. The potential risks and uncertainties include, amongothers, risks associated with: fluctuations in the market price of gold, goldproduction at Morila, the development of Loulo and estimates of resources,reserves and mine life. For a discussion on such risk factors, refer to theannual report on Form 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2003, which was filedwith the Securities Exchange Commission on 30 June 2004. Randgold Resourcesassumes no obligation to update information in this release. Cautionary Note toUS Investors: The United States Securities Exchange Commission (the 'SEC')permits companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proven andprobable ore reserves. We use certain terms in this release, such as "resources", that the SEC does not recognise and strictly prohibits us from including inour filings with the SEC. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or anypart of our resources will ever be converted into reserves which qualify as 'proven and probable reserves' for the purposes of the SEC's industry guidenumber 7. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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