RANDGOLD RESOURCES LIMITED Incorporated in Jersey, Channel Islands Reg. No. 62686 LSE Trading Symbol: RRS Nasdaq Trading Symbol: GOLD Focus on delivery as Randgold Resources advances new growth projects London, 6 May 2010 - Randgold Resources has started mining at its new Tongon project in the Cote d'Ivoire and has also initiated the development of the second underground mine at its Loulo complex in Mali in line with its growth plan designed to boost attributable production to 1.2 million ounces in 2014. In a tough operational quarter, the company also made significant progress with the key issues related to the development of the Kibali project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and continued to advance the feasibility studies on the Gounkoto project in Mali and the Massawa project in Senegal. During the past quarter, the previous quarter's record throughput at Loulo took its toll on the plant in terms of a rise in wear rates and a consequent increase in downtime. This, together with plant breakdowns at Morila, had a negative impact on throughput and therefore on gold production, unit costs and net profit for the quarter. Attributable production of 112 663 ounces and profit of US$23.9 million, while down on the previous quarter's record results, were nevertheless significantly up on the corresponding quarter in 2009. Chief executive Mark Bristow said that in spite of the time spent on remedial measures at Loulo, the company had continued to make solid progress on all its strategic objectives during the period."Tongon wins the prize for performance this quarter, with our capital projects team staying ahead of the development schedule and within budget. The operating team has now moved on site to prepare for the plant commissioning and we've started open pit mining to stockpile ore for the commissioning phase. All in all, Tongon is steadily on track to pour its first gold later this year," he said."The Kibali team came a close second, making significant progress on all the critical fronts. These include the relocation action plan, the road upgrade, the power strategy, and the orebody definition and evaluation. This project, currently scheduled to start producing in 2014, continues to deliver exceptional drill results indicative of its enormous potential." Bristow said the Massawa and Gounkoto feasibility studies were moving ahead, with various development options being tested. At Massawa, the metallurgical challenges associated with the orebody were being assessed, while the latest drill results from the fast-tracked Gounkoto pointed to further potential at depth and in extensions to an already spectacular orebody. At Loulo, further improvements have been achieved in ore tonnes mined and development metres advanced at the Yalea underground mine. The start-up plan for the Gara underground development is on track, with the portal establishment complete and work under way on the twin declines."The most critical challenge we face over the next three quarters is delivering on our production and profit forecasts under very demanding conditions," Bristow said. "Key to this is getting the expanded Loulo plant up to design capacity and running smoothly, and raising Yalea's underground ore production to 120 000 tonnes per month. This will enable Loulo to reach its target of 400 000 ounces this year. Looking further ahead, we remain confident about achieving our goal of producing 1.2 million ounces in 2014." RANDGOLD RESOURCES ENQUIRIES: Chief Executive Financial Director Investor & Media Relations Dr Mark Bristow Graham Shuttleworth Kathy du Plessis +44 788 071 1386 +44 779 614 4438 +44 20 7557 7738 +44 779 775 2288 +44 1534 735 333 Email: randgoldresources@dpapr.com Website: www.randgoldresources.com Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser, to view the associated PDF document: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/4107L_1-2010-5-5.pdf This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange END
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