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GOLD
August 2016
MODERN MINING
33
Left:
Ambarau, the second
hydropower station at
Kibali, will soon come on
line. The first hydropower
station, Nzoro, has supplied
a steady 20 MW into the
Kibali grid for over a year.
Below:
Panoramic night
view of the huge Kibali
mining complex in the
north-east of the DRC. Kibali
produced 122 532 oz in
Q2, a 6 % decrease on the
prior quarter. According to
Randgold, the complexity
of dealing with multiple ore
types from different sources
affected throughput,
recovery and grade at Kibali
during the quarter.
Randgold
development of Kibali as a complete project
remains ahead of schedule.
“Looking ahead at the rest of the year, all
our teams have been reworking and optimising
their mine plans to ensure that we end 2016
within guidance. In addition, we’re intensify-
ing our focus on critical operational issues to
ensure that we deliver a substantial second-half
improvement,” he said.
Bristow said in addition to another strong
performance by the Loulo-Gounkoto complex,
the quarter’s highlight was the advances made
by Randgold’s exploration teams.
“The quality and scope of our exploration
portfolio continue to grow and there is a solid
pipeline of projects being developed through
our resource triangle, from grassroots and gen-
erative work to resource definition. I believe
we have at least three advanced targets, already
scheduled for drill test campaigns, with real
potential to become important assets,” he said.
The advanced targets include Fonondara and
Kassere on the Boundiali permit in northern
Côte d’Ivoire and Sofia in Senegal, which looks
likely to provide a high grade, free-leaching
satellite resource for the feasibility study-stage
Massawa project.
In Mali, the greenfield target Bakolobi is cur-
rently being drilled while drilling at Loulo’s
Gara underground mine has identified sig-
nificant potential to extend its life and replace
this year’s depletion at Loulo. At neighbouring
Gounkoto, the feasibility study on the superpit
option will be concluded by the end of this year.
In the DRC, Randgold believes that the discov-
ery and rapid development of the Kombokolo
satellite illustrates the continued prospectivity
of the Kibali permit area and augurs well for the
Moku joint venture west of Kibali.
“While the more advanced work is ongoing,
our greenfields team is also feeding the base
of the resource triangle with new ground. The
Bambadji joint venture with IAMGOLD has
recently been renewed, we are applying for new
permits in southern and western Mali as well
as in southern Côte d’Ivoire, where we are also
negotiating a new joint venture,” Bristow said.
“The rest of the gold mining industry con-
tinues to shy away from exploration and there