Randgold Resources to invest $300 mln in Senegal

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"Our chief executive speaks of investing $300 million in the project," David Mbaye, Randgold Resources’ Senegal manager told Reuters, without giving details of an investment timetable, or when production might begin.

Mbaye said the firm hopes to start building the mine next year. Late last year, the firm said it expected Massawa to start up by 2013. Spot gold bullion traded close to $1 120 per ounce in London on Wednesday, around 30 percent higher than in late January last year.

Some analysts believe it may rise further as investors seek what has traditionally been perceived as a safe, tangible asset in times of financial uncertainty, while others say its rise has been overdone.

Randgold, an Africa specialist and the only pure gold producer in the FTSE 100 index, digs its metal at Loulo and Morila in nearby Mali, where it is also developing the Gounkoto project.

As well as its plan to invest in Massawa, the firm is building the Tongon mine in Ivory Coast, which may pour its first gold in the fourth quarter of 2010.
It says its Kibali deposit in Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits on the continent.

Source: Africa World News