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To: LoneClone who wrote (42097)	8/25/2009 10:28:19 PM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 193918

Randgold will not rush Moto project Brendan Ryan \| Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:25 miningmx.com [miningmx.com] -- RANDGOLD Resources CEO Mark Bristow said he did not intend rushing the development of the Moto gold mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He was speaking ahead of a trip to Kinshasha tomorrow for follow-up talks with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on the development of Moto. p> Both he and DRC deputy mines minister Victor Kasongo were in Johannesburg on Monday but Kasongo stated his desire for swift action. Kasongo commented, “We are full of expectations. We don’t want to be disappointed. We want activity to take place. We need Moto to be in operation. “We know of Randgold from their activities in Mali and we hope they will achieve similar good things in the Congo.” Bristow told Miningmx he was aware of the DRC government's attitude but said Randgold and partner AngloGold Ashanti were not going to rush developments at Moto. He commented, “You can pour gold any time. What we want to do is pour profitable gold. I have seen too many examples of people rushing a job and not doing it properly. “Determining the correct size for the Moto operation will be particularly important given the amount of infrastructure that must be put in place to develop that mine which sits in a wilderness. “My attitude is the best way to earn your social licence to operate in Africa is through building a profitable operation that pays taxes. That’s what we did in Mali. “ Buying Moto is a ground-breaking development for Randgold because it is the group’s first major acquisition. Bristow’s attitude has always been Randgold could add more value through development of its own exploration projects than through merger and acquisition activity. In July last year he told Miningmx he believed the gold industry had not created any real value on the back of the rising gold price. One of the reasons was that developments had been driven largely by M&A activity, which has bolstered overall market capitalisations, but shrunk production and profits. Significantly, Bristow at that time also clearly flagged his interest in the DRC. He subsequently told Miningmx that his major shareholders were “scared that I would buy something.” Queried about that Bristow today said he had spoken in advance to his major shareholders before bidding for Moto. “I had no negative comebacks but, if I mess it up, then I am sure they will change their minds,” he commented. Bristow said the Moto deposit was attractive because of its size and the bargain purchase price in terms of cost per resource ounce. The downside was the high risk involved which Randgold had mitigated through the JV with AngloGold Ashanti. “The decision point in the process is to answer the question – do you think you can build a mine there? We think we can but we are not prepared to bet the farm and do it on our own which is why we went into partnership with AngloGold Ashanti.” Bristow acknowledged that partnership is also ground breaking given the prior antagonism between the two organisations which competed for ownership of Ashanti Mines and then got into a bitter feud over management of the Morila mine in Mali. He put the difference down to the appointment of Mark Cutifani as CEO when former CEO Bobby Godsell retired. “I would not have done that deal if Bobby was still there,” Bristow said. Asked why, Bristow replied, “Mark Cutifani manages AngloGold Ashanti. He’s tough. He can dish it back at you and he does not take it personally. He took over at a very difficult time when Randgold and AngloGold were launching grenades at each other over Morila.” Over the past three years Randgold has been arguably the world’s best performing gold stock and it recovered rapidly from last year’s equity meltdown soaring from £15 in November to £45 in June before pulling back to current levels around £35. Reasons for the pullback are the recent fundraising at £36.35 a share and the fact that some investors think they have seen the best of the good times at Randgold. Bristow commented, “we had a similar situation when the share price was sitting around £11. The next 15 months are going to be crucial because we need to prove that we can run underground mining operations as well as we have open pit operations until now. “A number of our mines are going underground and the bulk of the mining at Moto will be largely underground. It means a big cultural change. “Our partners Shaft Sinkers are bringing a lot of South African miners onto our West African operations. One of the results has been the development of a French version of fanakolo (the universal linqua franca of the South African mining industry).