JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – LSE- and Nasdaq-listed Randgold Resources’ Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex, in Mali, would likely beat its revised production target for 2013 of 560 000 oz, CEO Mark Bristow said on Wednesday, adding that the complex’s guidance for 2014 would remain at 640 000 oz.

Loulo-Gounkoto, which comprised three mines – two underground and one openpit – was ranked as one of the largest of its kind in Africa and processed 4.4-million tonnes of ore a year.

"We expect gold production to keep rising while costs should start coming down. This trend should be accelerated by other new projects, including the paste backfill plant which, when completed, will unlock substantial mineable reserves underground and cut capital costs by reducing the required development rate," Bristow said.

He added that the Loulo-Gounkoto team, which consisted almost entirely of Mali nationals, was driving continued performance improvements at the operations.

Bristow stated that the team was delivering on all its operational objectives, on the back of higher grades and a range of efficiency enhancement projects, which were improving throughput and recoveries.

Meanwhile, Randgold group exploration executive Paul Harbidge said, while Loulo-Gounkoto was still expanding its gold production, the company's exploration teams were continuing to hunt for additional ounces around the existing orebodies as well as further world-class deposits. 

"We believe this region has a high potential for the discovery of more multimillion-ounce gold deposits.  A study into the feasibility of accessing the orebody underneath the Gounkoto pit is also well advanced," he said.

Bristow added that, since it had started as an openpit operation at the end of 2005, what was now the Loulo-Gounkoto complex had contributed $500-million directly to the Malian State in the form of dividends, taxes and royalties and had elevated Mali to the third-largest gold producer in Africa. 

“In line with Randgold's stakeholder philosophy, it has also benefited the local community enormously through the creation of jobs, the generation of economic opportunities, infrastructural improvements and quality-of-life initiatives in fields such as health and education," he concluded.