July 2014
MODERN MINING
35
MINING IN AFRICA
feature
ounces at a very competitive total cash cost
of US$715/oz. With Kibali now ramping up to
a steady state production of 600 000 ounces
a year (guidance for 2014 is set at 550 000
ounces), which, of course, has to be shared
with its partners, AngloGold Ashanti (45 %)
and SOKIMO (10 %), the company is expect-
ing to break the million ounce barrier this year
and achieve 1,2 Moz in 2015.
Kibali – which entered production in
September last year – has thus far proved an
amazing success, producing 88 200 ounces of
gold and making a profit from mining, before
interest, tax and depreciation, of US$68,3 mil-
lion in the three months to December 2013, its
first production quarter. It followed up in the
first quarter of this year with 112 549 ounces
and a profit from mining activities of US$86,3
million. Bristow said Kibali had “shot the lights
out” although he did acknowledge that the per-
formance was partially due to the fact that the
mine (which will be primarily a sulphide ore
operation) had benefited from treating mainly
oxide ores – with high recoveries above 90 %
– in its opening months. Kibali has the poten-
tial to operate for many years, having a massive
gold reserve of 11,6 Moz at 4,0 g/t.
At the media lunch, Bristow attributed
Randgold’s success with its African operations
to its total commitment to the continent and its
understanding that host countries – and, even
more importantly, host communities – needed
to benefit from Randgold’s mining activities.
He said that every single one of its mines had
extensive community programmes, including
housing and business assistance ventures, in
place and he noted that Randgold was a major
contributor to the economies in which it oper-
ated. In Mali, for example, its mines accounted
for around 12 % of the country’s GDP and
the Morila mine alone had contributed over
US$1,2 billion to the country’s treasury since
being commissioned in 2000. He added that
that most of Randgold’s country managers
were locals with an intimate understand-
ing of their respective countries. Reliance on
imported skills was minimal with – in the case
of Mali – virtually no expats at all at the man-
agement level.
At Kibali, the socio-economic development
accompanying the construction of the mine
has been on a massive scale, with Randgold
spending US$85 million on the resettlement
programme. Bristow is on record as saying that
the Kibali resettlement, which has involved
the relocation of around 4 000 families and
the creation of an entire new town known as
Kokiza, is “one of the company’s single greatest
achievements.”
Bristow told the journalists that availability
of electrical power was a major impediment
to the development of mines in Africa and
that innovative thinking was often needed to
get around the problem. At Kibali, he said,
Randgold was building four hydropower
plants, which would provide virtually all the
power required by the mine – at least during
the wet season. The first 22 MW facility is
already complete and currently being commis-
sioned with the three remaining facilities due
for completion by the end of 2017.
Updating the journalists on the Tongon mine
in Côte d’Ivoire, Bristow said there was “some
way to go” and that the operation was “off the
pace on recovery”. In the first quarter of this
year, gold production – at 54 512 ounces – was
slightly down on the figure for Q1 2013 and the
total cash cost had increased from US$817/oz
in Q1 2013 to US$958/oz in Q1 2014. He said
that after repeated failures of key components,
the crusher supplier, Sandvik, had agreed to
change out all existing Vibrocone crushers for
Above:
The Kibali crusher at
sunrise. Commissioning of
the mine’s oxide milling and
metallurgical circuit was
completed in October last
year and commissioning of
the sulphide mill stream is
underway.
Left:
The CIL plant at
the Tongon mine in Côte
d’Ivoire. Tongon is located
628 km north of the Côte
d’Ivoire port city of Abidjan
and 55 km south of the
border with Mali.
