TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Nasdaq- and LSE-listed Randgold Resources plans to start construction later this year on its high-grade Gounkoto project, in Mali, and could pour the first gold early in 2013, CEO Mark Bristow said on Wednesday.

Randgold produces gold from the Loulo mine, in Mali, as well as the now-halted Morila mine, where it is processing stockpiled ore. The company is also nearing the end of construction of its new Tongon mine, in the Côte de Ivoire.

Bristow said he will fast-track Gounkoto, which is a relatively new discovery on the same property as the operating Loulo mine, while the Massawa project in Senegal, which is turning out to be more complex, will be pushed back in the development schedule by some nine months.

“Gounkoto is one of those projects that really meet all the criteria,” he said after a presentation to analysts and investors in Toronto.

"We will finish the bankable feasibility, but it is primarily banked already because [of] its quality, its grade, its simple metallurgy, it's within the mining lease of Loulo, it's got no fatal flaws in the environmental studies and it's very close to infrastructure,” he said.

“So it makes sense to bring it forward.”

The company has completed baseline studies and is well advanced in the final impact studies for Gounkoto.

“We are are shooting towards placing orders for long-lead items towards the end of this year, with the intention of starting construction in earnest in the first quarter of next year.”

Bristow said he still plans to present the details of the Gounkoto prefeasibility study when the company publishes first-quarter results in a few weeks.

At Massawa, although the project is larger, it is more complex and Randgold wants to give itself time to get to grips with the deposit, he said.

The company has completed a prefeasibility study, in which it considered both high-grade/low-tonnage and high-tonnage/low-grade options for developing Massawa, and has decided that the first scenario is the best route.

The project “has huge potential”, Bristow added.

“But it is more complex, it will take some time.”

Randgold now only expects to start construction on Massawa towards the end of 2011, instead of early in the year.

But the gold miner is maintaining its production guidance for the next few years, because early production from Gounkoto will offset the delay at Massawa.

KIBALI

At the Kibali project, which Randgold bought with AngloGold Ashanti when they acquired junior Moto Goldmines, the company has hit a number of milestones in the last few months, including starting work on upgrading the road that will connect the Kibali site to the Ugandan border.

The project has also received a crucial hydroelectric site licence, Bristow revealed.

“Without hydro, the economics of this project take a big hammering,” he said.

“But as far as the main base-load power goes, we are comfortable we can cover that with hydro power. And we have the rights to it.”

Randgold's most advanced project, Tongon in the Cote d'Ivoire, is ahead of plan, on budget and expected to pour its first gold in October.

Despite its vigorous capital plans over the next four or five years, the company does not expect to have to raise any money to complete the projects in its pipeline, as long as gold stays above $1 000/oz, Bristow said.

By 2014, the company could have around $2-billion in free cash, which he promised would be returned to shareholders.