Loulo development under way

Two large ball mills began their journey to the Loulo gold project in Mali in mid-January, as part of the construction program on the mine.

Randgold Resources (GOLD-Q), which plans to have Loulo in production around mid-year, began its drawdown of project financing in November 2004. A lending syndicate headed by N.M. Rothschild & Sons and Socit Gnerale is advancing US$60 million for construction at Loulo.

Exploration on-site, and on the neighbouring Yalea deposit, has significantly increased the project’s resources. Loulo now shows a measured and indicated resource of 15.9 million tonnes grading 4.1 grams gold per tonne, and Yalea, 15.6 million tonnes at 4.2 grams per tonne.

More drilling is planned for Yalea, which would be developed as an underground mine. Feasibility studies for the project are under way. A 20-hole drilling program to bring the deep resource, still in the inferred category, into the measured and indicated category has confirmed earlier results. Among the better intersections in the recent drilling were a zone of 17.5 grams gold per tonne across a true width of 17 metres, and another, averaging 12.1 grams per tonne across a true width of 11 metres.