34
MODERN MINING
July 2014
MINING IN AFRICA
B
ristow certainly can’t be accused
of not understanding Africa. Since
finding the Morila mine in the
1990s in Mali (which is still op-
erating today with over 7 million
ounces of gold production under its belt), he
and his team have developed several further
mines in Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and the DRC,
which have all performed well – and, in some
cases, spectacularly well. Over this same pe-
riod, Bristow has travelled the continent ex-
tensively – on foot (he was a field geologist
earlier in his career), by motorbike (see page 9
of this issue), by four-wheel drive vehicle and
by plane. Even today, when he could be tak-
ing it relatively easy, he is constantly on the
move around Africa. As he told the journal-
ists at the luncheon, “Randgold doesn’t have
a head office. Instead the executive team goes
from mine to mine.”
Most of the areas Randgold operates in have
seen turbulence in recent years. The company
commissioned its Tongon mine in Côte d’Ivoire
in 2010 in the midst of civil war while Mali,
where it runs not only Morila but also the plus
600 000-ounces-a-year Loulo-Gounkoto com-
plex, entered a period of instability in 2012
after an Al Qaeda incursion into the north of
the country that was so severe that France was
forced to intervene. The north-east of the DRC,
where Randgold’s new US$2,5 billion Kibali
joint venture operation is located, has also
experienced unrest – basically from the activi-
ties of a bewildering array of militia groups
– over virtually the entire period that Randgold
has been operating there.
None of these events has seemed to have
had any significant effect on Randgold and
the company goes from strength to strength.
In February this year, it published an excel-
lent set of financials for its 2013 financial year,
reporting total gold production of 910 374
Mining in Africa –
it’s not that
risky, says
Randgold’s Bristow
Mark Bristow on site.
According to Mark Bristow, Chief Executive of African gold producer Randgold Re-
sources, the risks attached to developing mining projects in Africa can be grossly
over-stated. “We’re in all the risky countries you can imagine, including the DRC
and Mali,” he told a recent media luncheon in Johannesburg. “But, in our opinion,
the single biggest risk is in fact management rather than geography.” He did,
however, add the rider that mining companies with African aspirations needed to
understand the continent. “If you don’t understand Africa, you’re toast,” he said.
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