[miningmx.com] — RANDGOLD Resources has significantly adjusted its output target for 2012 downwards, blaming setbacks at its Tongon mine in Cote d’Ivoire.
The Africa-focused miner said on Sunday that group production for the year to end-December would drop to a range from 690,000 to 700,000 ounces, as opposed to earlier guidance of 750,000 oz. The group produced 440,000 oz in 2010.
“As anticipated, Q3’s difficult operating conditions in the (Tongon) pit, due to the wet weather and mining through transitional ore, persisted into Q4,” the group said in a statement.
“The situation was exacerbated by a number of other factors. During the week of 21 November, the mine experienced a temporary work stoppage during the course of negotiating a mine level agreement with the newly established union. At the same time, the change-over from diesel-generated power to the Cote d’Ivoire’s national grid proved to be more complex than originally thought and resulted in significant downtime. Subject to some further synchronisation and operational coordination, the connection process is now almost complete.”
The group said operating conditions in the pit have improved considerably following the end of the rainy season. However, the mine also suffered a major failure of the barring gear on its No 1 mill last Friday.
“This caused management to shut down the No 2 mill as well in the interests of personnel safety and to protect the mill from a similar failure while advice was sought from the equipment supplier and consultants.”
Randgold said its Loulo asset in Mali has also experienced lower production than forecast as a result of the carryover of the delay in the in-pit mining sequence at Gounkoto, as well as some downtime during the tie-in of the new tailings pipeline and the 3rd mill expansion programme.
“However, the recent performance of the Loulo/Gounkoto complex has shown significant progress towards getting back in line with its Q4 production forecast,” the group said.
