1st Feb 2006 15:38
Randgold Resources Ld01 February 2006 RANDGOLD RESOURCES LIMITEDIncorporated in Jersey, Channel IslandsReg. No. 62686LSE Trading Symbol: RRSNasdaq Trading Symbol: GOLD SOMILO SEEKS MDM LIQUIDATION OVER LOULO PROJECT Johannesburg, 1 February 2006 - Societe des Mines de Loulo SA (Somilo) todayfiled an urgent application in the South African High Court and was granted aprovisional order for the liquidation of MDM Ferroman, formerly the maincontractor for the plant at its new Loulo gold mine in Mali. Dr Mark Bristow, chief executive of Somilo's majority shareholder and Louloproject sponsor Randgold Resources (LSE:RRS) (Nasdaq:GOLD), said the company hadtaken this step to protect its interests in the light of MDM's apparentlydeteriorating financial position. Last month Somilo took back the Loulo PhaseII plant construction project from MDM on the grounds that MDM had defaulted onits contract. Bristow said that since then a Randgold Resources team had beenmanaging the project and the liquidation of MDM would therefore have no furthereffect on its completion. Somilo's application to the court says MDM has failed to give any indication ofhow it proposes to repay the debt it owes Somilo as a result of advance paymentsmade to ease its financial difficulties. It notes that MDM is clearly not in aposition to assist it with the completion of the project but is still inpossession of technical drawings and related data which the company wishes torecover. Loulo has been in production since the last quarter of 2005. Completion of thesecond phase of the plant, the hard-rock crushing circuit, has been delayed byMDM's default but remedial measures taken by Randgold Resources have ensuredthat this delay should not impact on planned production. RANDGOLD RESOURCES ENQUIRIES:Chief Executive Investor & Media RelationsDr Mark Bristow Kathy du Plessis+44 779 775 2288 +27 11 728 4701+27 82 800 4293 Cell: +27 83 266 5847+223 675 0122 Email: [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 forward-looking 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 2004 which was filed with the United StatesSecurities and Exchange Commission on 29 June 2005, as subsequently amended.Randgold Resources sees no obligation to update information in this release. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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