[miningmx.com] – WEST Africa-focused miner Randgold Resources said
profit soared 259% in 2011 boosted by higher gold production at its mines in Ivory
Coast and Mali and prompting the company to double its dividend.
Randgold Resources on Monday posted full-year profit of $433.4m on output which
jumped 58% to 696,023 ounces in 2011.
The board proposed increasing the company’s annual dividend to $0.40, a 100% rise
on what it paid out in 2010, after the substantial rise in earnings.
The company’s full-year production was in line with guidance given in November of
690,000-700,000 ounces, although it had cut guidance twice in the year from a
previous, already trimmed forecast of 740,000-760,000, after difficult mining
conditions, work stoppages and a mill breakdown impacted output.
Production will rise to between 825,000 and 865,000 ounces in 2012, Randgold
forecast, adding that it expected costs to remain at around the same level as this year
for 2012, before falling over the next five years.
FTSE 100 company Randgold had originally hoped to keep its cash costs per ounce
below $600 for 2011, but in December indicated they would be higher, and for the full
year posted operating costs of $641 per ounce.
“Management is targeting total cash costs per ounce, after royalties, of under
$650/ounce for 2012, while costs are forecast to reduce to between US$500/ounce
and $550/ounce over the next five years,” the company said in a statement.
Shares in Randgold, which have risen 7% in the last month, closed at 7,400 pence on
Friday valuing the company at £6.8bn ($10.7bn).
