Randgold Production In Mali Unaffected

Randgold Resources has welcomed the political settlement agreed in Mali, home to two thirds of the miner's production, and said the disruption sparked by a coup had not significantly affected its operations there.

Shares in Randgold had been hit by the unrest - down over 28 per cent in the last month - as investors and analysts worried over the potential impact on sales and perceptions of political risk.

Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure resigned on Sunday, paving the way for the soldiers who ousted him in a coup to stick by a deal to restore civilian rule and hand power to the president of the National Assembly.

'During this period these operations continued to operate without any material disruption,' Chief Executive Mark Bristow said in a statement.

'Our production guidance for 2012 remains unchanged, although we have not completed our assessment of the impact this situation has had on costs. We will monitor the implementation of the political settlement by the relevant parties, and give the market a full update when we report our first quarter results on 3 May.'

A FTSE-100 member which also operates in Cote d’Ivoire and is developing projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal, Randgold is arguably the most significant investor in Mali. Analysts had estimated the West African country would account for some 70 percent of 2012 output.

Reuters