London - Randgold Resources on Monday welcomed the political
settlement agreed in Mali, home to two-thirds of the miner’s production, and
said the disruption sparked by a coup had not significantly affected its
operations there.
Shares in Randgold had been hit by the unrest - down over
28% in the last month - as investors and analysts worried over the potential
impact on sales and perceptions of political risk.
Mali’s President Amadou Toumani Toure resigned on Sunday,
paving the way for the soldiers who ousted him in a coup to stick by a deal to
restore civilian rule and hand power to the president of the National Assembly.
“During this period these operations continued to operate
without any material disruption,” chief executive Mark Bristow said in a
statement.
“Our production guidance for 2012 remains unchanged,
although we have not completed our assessment of the impact this situation has
had on costs.
"We will monitor the implementation of the political settlement by
the relevant parties, and give the market a full update when we report our
first-quarter results on 3 May.”
A FTSE-100 member which also operates in Ivory Coast and is
developing projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal, Randgold
is arguably the most significant investor in Mali. Analysts had estimated the
West African country would account for some 70% of 2012 output.