Randgold quarterly gold production rises

Johannesburg - Randgold Resources said quarterly production from its African gold mines rose to 299 320 ounces - 28% more than in the same period the previous year, which did not include a full three months of output from the Congolese mine, Kibali.

Randgold mines gold in Mali, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Profit from mining fell 1% to $172.7m for the quarter ended September 30.

The chief executive Mark Bristow of Randgold Resources said production will be towards the top end of the miner's full-year forecast as its big new project in the Democratic Republic of Congo picks up speed.

Randgold's shares rose about 2% after the company reported record quarterly gold production.

Randgold left its full-year production guidance unchanged in a range of 1.13 million to 1.2 million gold ounces.

But Bristow told Reuters he was confident that production would fall in or above the middle of this range.

Kibali is Randgold's biggest investment project. The $2.5bn joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti and state miner Sokimo poured its first gold in September 2013 and could eventually rank among the world's biggest gold mines.

Spot gold was trading on Thursday slightly above the 4½ year low of $1 137.40 an ounce that it hit on Wednesday.

The average price that Randgold received for its gold in the third quarter was $1 277 an ounce, down 3 percent from a year earlier.

Bristow said Randgold was well-positioned to withstand any impact from falling gold prices, and that a prolonged period of low prices might be an opportunity to buy assets. The company had $63.4m in cash and cash equivalents as of September 30.

"We plan our business at $1 000 an ounce," he said.

Bristow said the company was more likely to buy large mines, like Kibali, than the non-core assets typically shed first by others in periods of turbulence.

"We're not interested in those. We're interested in the ice-cream assets," Bristow told Reuters Insider Television.

The company's FTSE-100-listed shares were up 1.6% at 3827 pence at 13:00 GMT on the London Stock Exchange.