Randgold Resources Expects New Congo Projects By Early Next Year

As it has been released by the company gold mining Randgold Resources, the company's chief executive Mark Bristow said''  Randgold this time aims to surpass the production target of 600,000 ounces of gold for producers in 2015. Randgold expects to expand operations in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo by early next year.

Randgold Resources operates the Kibali mine in northeastern Congo, a joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti and state miner Sokimo. It also has a joint venture with Kilo Gold mines to explore for gold in the area.

Kibali and other new gold mines opened by companies like Banro Corporation have boosted Congo's gold output from near zero in 2011 to over 20 tonnes last year.

Global gold production in 2014 stood at about 2,860 tonnes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. South Africa, which poured about 150 tonnes, was Africa's leading producer.

Kibali poured more than 525,000 ounces of gold in 2014, its first full year of production, and expects to produce more than 600,000 ounces this year. It is the second-highest producing mine for Randgold, which recorded revenues of $1.43 billion last year.

Randgold Says Century-Old Mine’s Reserves May Rise Fourfold

JOHANNESBURG – The amount of gold buried at Ghana’s Obuasi mine, an operation dating back to 1897, is so vast the site may hold four times current declared reserves, said Randgold Resources Ltd., the London-listed producer that’s agreed to help turn the project around.

 

Randgold, working on plans to rebuild the AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. mine, identified 6 million ounces of reserves at 8 to 12 grams a metric ton, Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow said, compared with the estimate now of 5.6 million ounces at 6 grams of gold a ton.

Zama zamas mine 5 to 10% of SA’s gold annually

According to the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, illegal mining accounts for between 5% and 10% of yearly South African mining production, which in 2013 was just over R72 billion for gold and just under R63 billion for platinum group metals (PGM).

Illegal mining has been under the spotlight recently as about 35 suspected illegal miners have been killed in Grootvlei, near Springs on the East Rand, since the beginning of the year, according to police. Last Monday, the bodies of five suspected illegal miners were found with bullet wounds after what was believed to have been a turf war between two groups of illegal miners in the area.

South Africa’s gold mines are in big trouble

South Africa’s gold mines, the deepest and among the oldest in the world, are in big trouble. The four largest producers in the country are losing money on about 35 percent of production at current prices, according to company data compiled by Bloomberg. At the same time, higher costs are cutting into profits as electricity bills climb to a record. Workers are also pushing for wage increases, with some threatening to strike if salaries aren’t doubled.

The nation, whose Witwatersrand Basin has supplied about a third of all gold ever mined, dropped from the top producer to sixth-biggest in just eight years. Now that miners who still crawl through tunnels using hand drills and dynamite have extracted much of the easy-to-dig metal, companies use modern technology to go deeper. That’s another expense, especially when bullion prices are near a five-year low.

South Africa’s Gold Miners Turn to Machines to Stay Afloat

JOHANNESBURG—South Africa’s gold-mining companies are facing a question of life or death—and the answer is likely robots.

With more than half of the country’s gold mines currently unprofitable, companies are looking for ways to stay in business long enough to mine what is left of the world’s largest gold deposit. That means miners have to figure out how to dig up more gold less expensively from deeper underground than ever before.

The proposed solution: echo the auto and diamond mining industries by replacing as many people as possible with machines.