JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The successful commissioning of the automated materials handling system at Randgold Resources’ Kibali underground operation is supporting the mine’s planned ramp-up in production, CEO Mark Bristow says.
The mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is on track to achieve its production guidance of 730 000 oz for this year, a 22% increase on the previous year’s output.
Randgold invested $2.7-billion to make Kibali one of Africa’s most automated gold mines and the project is now ready to move from underground mining by contractors, to owner-mining.
“Aside from the continuing optimisation of the underground system and the construction of the mine’s third hydropower station, which is scheduled for commissioning towards the middle of this year, the Kibali project is now complete,” Bristow noted.