8
MODERN MINING
February 2014
MINING News
The Kibali gold mine in the DRC, which
in December completed its first quar-
ter of operation, has more than met
the objectives set for it at the time of its
acquisition in September 2009, Randgold
Resources Chief Executive Mark Bristow
said at a recent media briefing at the mine.
Randgold is developing and operating the
project, in which it has a 45% shareholding.
Randgold’s clear goals from the start,
Bristow noted, were to define the ore-
body’s full potential, redesign the existing
feasibility study, create a supply line from
Doko to the Ugandan border, secure the
project area in partnership with the cen-
tral and provincial governments, resettle
more than 4 000 families from 14 villages
in a newmodel town, and start production
in 2015.
“There were few people outside the
Randgold management team and the DRC
who believed that we could achieve this.
But in short order we produced a blueprint
for a much larger operation than originally
envisaged, among other things increasing
mineral reserves to 11 million ounces of
gold, accelerating the construction pro-
gramme and bringing first gold production
forward to December 2013,” Bristow said.
“The enormous resettlement pro-
gramme was completed successfully,
construction went according to plan, the
infrastructure was upgraded, open-pit
mining started, and with the oxide circuit
of the metallurgical plant commissioned
ahead of schedule, Kibali poured its first
gold on 24 September 2013, with gold
sales commencing the following month.
This would not have been possible with-
out the support and cooperation of
the Congolese authorities and the local
community.”
Kibali is still a work in progress, with
shaft sinking underway at the complex’s
underground mine, the first of four hydro-
power stations due to be commissioned
soon and the remaining sulphide circuit
scheduled for completion at the end of the
first quarter of 2014. Kibali is nevertheless
expected to exceed its gold production for
its first full quarter of operation, the three
months to December, and meet its fore-
cast of 550 000 ounces for the current year.
Like all the other gold mines Randgold has
developed, it should also make a net profit
in its first quarter.
Bristow said that in line with Randgold’s
policy of giving employment preference to
local people and other nationals of its host
countries, 6 065 of the 7 660 workers on
site at Kibali at the end of December 2013
were Congolese. Teams of locally recruited
operators have been sent for training at
Randgold’s other mines.
“This world-class gold mining complex
we are developing at Kibali will make a
major contribution to the DRC’s economy
as well as a significant improvement in the
local quality of life. As part of our resettle-
ment programme, for example, we have
built 14 schools, five medical centres, five
markets, 29 chapels for various religious
denominations and 70 km of road. The
increase in local economic activity can be
measured at the nearby Durba trade cen-
Kibali meets all its goals – and more
A recent photo (taken in late January 2014) of the Kibali processing plant. The oxide circuit of the plant was commissioned in September last year (photo:
Randgold Resources).
