JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Randgold Resources’ Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex, in Mali, is still expanding, with the Gounkoto superpit and the new Baboto satellite pit joining the Yalea and Gara underground mines.
Randgold CE Mark Bristow on Thursday told media in the country that the complex’s all-Malian management team had made a good start to this year, although production was expected to be lower than in the previous quarter on the back of forecast lower grades, which reflected the sequencing of mining lower-grade blocks at both Loulo and Gounkoto.
Although slightly delayed, mining of the Baboto satellite pit was now well on track to support the complex with softer oxide ore feed, he said.
“We expect grades to pick up and production to increase through the rest of the year to deliver our production guidance for 2018,” said Loulo-Gounkoto GM Tahirou Ballo.
He added that production from the underground mines had continued to show a steady improvement since the company took over the mining from contractors in 2016.
In addition, Randgold West African operations GM Chiaka Berthe said the Loulo-Gounkoto complex represented the largest foreign investment to date in the Malian economy, as it is still investing in new mining projects like the Gounkoto pushback and the new Baboto satellite pit.
However, he noted that the country is rich in other gold opportunities, and that Randgold continues to search for extensions to the known orebodies, as well as new discoveries in its Malian landholdings.