From Financial Times ...
GOLD: Randgold project in Mali on track
By Kenneth Gooding, Mining Correspondent
A $63m (œ38m) expansion of the Syama gold mine in Mali was on track for completion in November, Randgold Resources, the African mining and exploration company, said yesterday.
The report accompanied a loss before tax for the three months to June 30 of $10.5m, compared with $13.8m in the previous quarter. Attributable loss was cut from $23.7m to $9.3m.
The Syama programme is designed to lift annual output to 270,000 troy ounces at a cash cost of $210 an ounce. In the quarter under review, Syama produced 30,956 ounces (24,961) at a cash cost of $319 ($417) an ounce. Syama's cash operating loss was reduced from $3.44m to $1.2m.
Resources, which listed in London a year ago, and which is 57 per cent owned by Randgold Exploration of South Africa, said it had put the Morila gold project in Mali on a "fast track" for production in 2000 after establishing resources of more than 2m ounces of gold. However, a development decision for the Loulo project in Mali, had been delayed. Although the average cash costs at Loulo were projected to be $205 an ounce, returns on capital at the current gold price did not meet the company's hurdle rate. Exploration would continue at Loulo, however.
|
