Kibali pours first gold ahead of schedule

JERSEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS--(Marketwired - Sep 24, 2013) -

RANDGOLD RESOURCES LIMITED
Incorporated in Jersey, Channel Islands
Reg. No. 62686
LSE Trading Symbol: RRS
NASDAQ Trading Symbol: GOLD

KIBALI POURS FIRST GOLD AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

Denver, Colorado, 24 September 2013 - The giant Kibali gold project
in the Democratic Republic of Congo has successfully started production
well ahead of its original year-end target and still in line with
capital forecasts, Mark Bristow, chief executive of part-owner Randgold
Resources (LSE: RRS) (NASDAQ: GOLD), which is developing and operating the
project, announced
here today.

Prior to speaking at the annual Denver Gold Forum, Bristow said that
the Randgold development team had only moved on site in January 2010,
and since then had built a world-class gold mine in one of Africa's
remotest regions, in the process more than doubling its reserves to
11 millionounces and increasing its resources to
21 million-plusounces.

"It has been an enormous feat of geology, metallurgy, engineering and
logistics, as well as negotiation and diplomacy, and its success is a
tribute to the Randgold team as well as the Congolese authorities, the
local community and our business partners, contractors and suppliers,"
he said. Kibali represents an initial investment of USD1.7billion by
Randgold and its partner, AngloGold Ashanti.

With the earlier start-up, Bristow said, Kibali was expected
comfortably to exceed its production target of 30000ounces for the
rest of this year, and was on track to meet next year's forecast of
550000ounces. The project is being developed in two phases. In the
first, the plant's oxide circuit has been commissioned early and is
treating oxide ore from the stockpile of more than a million tonnes
already produced by the open pit mine. Gold sales are scheduled to
start next month when the circuit is in a steady state. The sulphide
circuit will be commissioned in the second quarter of 2014. Phase 2,
which runs concurrently with Phase 1 but extends to 2016, will include
the completion of the underground mine, where development is already
well advanced. The underground mine is scheduled to access first ore
in early 2015 with stoping operations starting later in that year.
Kibali will also commission four hydropower facilities during the two
phases to allow the mine to access low cost energy from the abundant
hydropower potential in the DRC.

Bristow said the enormous relocation programme, which has involved the
resettlement of more than 4000 households in 14 villages on the Kibali
site to a new model town, Kokiza, had also been completed on schedule.
The administration of Kokiza is now in the process of being handed over
to a local administration."Kibali is the fifth world-class gold mine
Randgold has delivered to its stakeholders since 2000
when Morila was commissioned, and it is
significant that we are doing so at a time when the gold mining
industry generally is cancelling projects, cutting budgets and revising
growth plans downwards in the face of the drop in the gold price. This
again illustrates the merit of Randgold's long-term strategy of
creating value through discovery and development, and of continuing to
invest in our future even when the gold price turns down," he said.

In his subsequent presentation to the Forum, Bristow was due to say
that having failed to create any real value during gold's 10-year bull
run, the mining industry was now again facing a struggle for survival.
"The problem quite simply is that as the gold price increased, there
was a rush to increase production at all costs. Because of a lack of
past investment in growth, the industry has not been able to replace
the ore it has mined at the same grade. In fact, its reserve grade has
decreased by more than half over this period. And because it has
continued mining at above the reserve grade, the problem has got worse
every quarter," his speech continued."To maintain or increase
production when the grade has halved, you have to double
your mining and processing capacity, which means that you
also more than double your capital and operating costs per ounce. This
is the real issue facing the industry. In order to reduce cash costs
and deliver improved returns, the industry will have to move its
operations back up the grade curve, which will entail taking out a lot
of current production, painful as that may be."

Click here for photographs and details

ENQUIRIES:

Mark Bristow           Graham Shuttleworth  Kathy du Plessis
Kibali chairman &      Randgold Financial   Randgold investor & media
Randgold CEO           Director             relations
+44 788 071 1386       +447797711338        +44 20 7557 7738 /
                                             randgold@dpapr.com 

Website:  www.randgoldresources.com 

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: Except for the
historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this
news release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of
Section 27A of the US Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the US
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and applicable Canadian securities
legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited
to, statements with respect to the future price of gold, the estimation
of mineral reserves and resources, the realisation of mineral reserve
estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs
of production, reserve determination and reserve conversion rates.
Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the
use of forward-looking terminology such as 'will', 'plans', 'expects'
or 'does not expect', 'is expected', 'budget', 'scheduled',
'estimates', 'forecasts', 'intends', 'anticipates' or 'does not
anticipate', or 'believes', or variations of such words and phrases or
state that certain actions, events or results 'may', 'could', 'would',
'might' or 'will be taken', 'occur' or 'be achieved'. Assumptions upon
which such forward-looking statements are based are in turn based on
factors and events that are not within the control of Randgold
Resources Limited ('Randgold') and there is no assurance they will
prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are subject to known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the
actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of
Randgold to be materially different from those expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks
related to mining operations, including political risks and instability
and risks related to international operations, actual results of
current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations,
changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, as well
as those factors discussed in Randgold's filings with the US Securities
and Exchange Commission (the 'SEC'). Although Randgold has attempted to
identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there
may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated,
estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements
will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could
differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements. Randgold does not undertake to update any forward-looking
statements herein, except in accordance with applicable securities
laws. CAUTIONARY NOTE TO US INVESTORS: The SEC permits companies, in
their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proven and probable ore
reserves. We use certain terms in this release, such as 'resources',
that the SEC does not recognise and strictly prohibits us from
including in our filings with the SEC. Investors are cautioned not to
assume that all or any parts of our resources will ever be converted
into reserves which qualify as 'proven and probable reserves' for the
purposes of the SEC's Industry Guide number 7.

                    This information is provided by RNS
          The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END