Mining code changes pose investment threat

JERSEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS--(Marketwire - Feb 5, 2013) -

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

MINING CODE CHANGES POSE THREAT TO FUTURE INVESTMENT IN AFRICA

Cape Town, 5 February 2013- Mining code changes proposed by a number
of African countries will deter further investment there, Randgold
Resources chief executive Mark Bristow cautioned today.

Speaking at the Mining Indaba, Bristow said that with gold exploration
and mining shifting from the developed countries to the world's
emerging prospective regions, Africa had to compete for investment with
South America, Asia, the Pacific Rim, Eastern Europe and Russia. While
Africa had the advantage of great mineral wealth, its competitors
generally had better infrastructures, greater skills pools and more
sophisticated economies.

Bristow pointed out that in the countries where Randgold has
operations - Mali, the Cote d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of
Congo - the present mining codes returned a substantial slice of the
net revenue pie to the State in spite of the fact that Randgold had
funded the entire discovery and development cost and carried all the
risks."The host country is already a significant if not the main
beneficiary of its mining activities. That is why it is disturbing that
there is a growing tendency among the sub-Saharan mining countries to want
more without giving anything back. Even a moderate change in their current
codes will diminish these countries' ability to compete for direct
fixed investment or to encourage reinvestment," Bristow said."There's a
much better way for these countries to get more from their
mining industries, and that is to participate positively in the value
creation process. As we've seen only too often in the mining industry,
mergers and acquisitions hardly ever deliver value to shareholders, let
alone other stakeholders. Real value, as I believe Randgold has
demonstrated over the years, is created by the discovery of
multi-million ounce gold deposits and their development into profitable
mines. Governments' role in this should be firstly to provide a
stable, business-friendly regime that will attract or at least not
drive away investors, and then to partner the mining company in the
development cycle, helping to drive the project up the value curve and
sharing fairly in its proceeds."

RANDGOLD RESOURCES ENQUIRIES

Chief Executive   Financial Director   Investor & Media Relations
Mark Bristow      Graham Shuttleworth  Kathy du Plessis
+447880711386     +44534735333         +442075577738
+447797752288     +447797711338        Email:  randgoldresources@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'
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including but not limited to: risks related to the integration of
Randgold and Moto, 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 the
section entitled 'Risk Factors' in Randgold's Annual Report on Form
20-F for the year ended 31 December 2011 which was filed with the US
Securities and Exchange Commission (the 'SEC') on 31 March 2012.
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
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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

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