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Randgold earmarks slice of orebody value for mine communities

4th November 2016

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

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JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The sustainability activity of gold mining company Randgold Resources is built on the premise of devoting part of the value of its orebodies to communities around its mines, in a way that aims to elevate the quality of life and leave an ongoing economic legacy after the orebody has been mined out.

Before the London-listed company builds a mine, it completes a baseline study to define an 'affected footprint' with every village in the affected footprint qualifying for potable water and primary education.

The next target is for all schools to have a minimum of six classrooms with the measure of success the pass rate of the pupils.

Its second focus is on primary health care and all affected villages around its five mines in Mali, Côte d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have access to primary health care.

In addition, Randgold believes that investment in food security is one of the biggest investments it can make. It does so by building village cooperatives, ensuring basic agricultural extension support and investing in tractors, ploughs and harrows to allow villagers to plant their crops in deeper soil, using company-supplied fertiliser and seed.

The next step is to elevate subsistence agricultural activity into agribusiness.

At Tongon in Côte d'Ivoire, Randgold CEO Dr Mark Bristow has a meeting with all the village chiefs every six months to discuss footprint plans.

An abattoir recently built in one village facilitates livestock farming, a fish farm in another is driving pisciculture and maize and chicken farming capacity is being developed in others.

Randgold carries out the research for the marketing of the agricultural products and invests in microfinancing to fund the businesses that arise to support the agricultural activity.

A local economic development programme is under way at Randgold’s Kibali gold mine in the DRC, where it runs courses to build business capacity to ensure that inward investment is ongoing.

The agricultural college that it has built at the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex in Mali graduates 100 economic farmers a year.

“Sustainability has become central to our success,” Bristow told Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online in an interview following this week’s presentation of 58%-higher and 32%-more profit of $77.3-million in the three months to September 30.

Randgold’s engagement with the Malian government around closure planning for the Morila gold mine has included visits to agribusiness projects by delegations from the Ministries of Rural Development, Land Affairs and Mines, as well as the African Union and the World Bank.

On its recent tax issue in Mali, Bristow tells Mining Weekly Online: “It’s sorted.”

He describes tax issues as a normal course of business.

“We’ve had arm-wrestling and head butts our whole life with tax authorities. That’s the way it is. We're resilient to it. We’re not going to get legged over,” he says, pointing out that the company has in the last two decades invested $2.7-billion into Mali.

To date, that has generated the same amount of revenue and the Malian treasury has benefited directly from two-thirds of that.

In its latest presentation of third-quarter results, Randgold reported on expenditure on community programmes at Loulo-Gounkoto such as schools and water supply, as well as training women and local entrepreneurs in soap production, agricultural products transformation and business planning.

The phase two training of the 57 students at the mine’s agricultural college has started and more partners are expressing interest in affiliating with and supporting the college.

In the same report it stated that Tongon was continuing to invest in the development of educational programmes, community health and agricultural projects, designed to provide post mining employment.

Small-scale projects such as maize and livestock farming are being expanded upon with more than 80 ha of land under maize farming, five henhouses stocked with 4 000 chickens and 35 000 fish stocked in 15 cages, at various stages of growth.

The report said that the Mbengue surgical clinic construction had reached roof height with electrics currently being installed.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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