* Kibali remains on track for first production next year
* Operations being developed despite conflict elsewhere in
DRC
JOHANNESBURG, July 25 (Reuters) – Randgold Resources
said on Wednesday it had started open pit mining at its Kibali
gold project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
underlining the point that operations continue in the troubled
nation despite recent fighting in its east.
Randgold also said Kibali remained on track to begin
producing its first gold toward the end of 2013.
“The DRC had for years tried to interest the major mining
companies in this project but all were daunted by its scale and
location,” said Randgold chief executive Mark Bristow.
Congo in general is a daunting place to do business.
More than 200,000 civilians have had to leave their homes
and several hundred fighters have been killed in recent clashes
in North Kivu province in the country’s restive east.
Randgold’s operations are hundreds of kilometres from there
and not even linked by road while the country’s copper belt lies
far to the south of the scenes of the recent clashes.
“We are absolutely unaffected. There is a lot of activity in
Kivu province but it is sort of the last vestige of warlordism,”
Bristow told Reuters earlier this month.
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