Gold Exploration in West Africa

[FL]

BALL MILLS SET SAIL FOR RANDGOLD RESOURCES’
NEW LOULO MINE IN MALI

Richards Bay, South Africa, 3 February 2005 (LSE:RRS) (Nasdaq:GOLD) - The two huge
ball mills destined for Randgold Resources’ new gold mine at Loulo in Mali embarked today on
the second leg of their journey, departing from Richards Bay harbour on a chartered vessel to
the port of Dakar in Senegal.
This follows the first stage of this demanding logistical exercise, where the convoy of enormous
mill shells, ends and feed chutes were taken by road - often against traffic - to Richards Bay
from Vereeniging near Johannesburg. The journey took exactly eight days and required an
escort of five police vehicles as well as technicians from both Eskom and Telkom to lift the
power lines that the trucks needed to pass under.
Each of the mill shells is being transported in a single piece measuring 5.5 metres in diameter
and 8.0 metres in length, and weighing some 103 tonnes. From Dakar, the mills will be
transported about 1 000 kilometres by land to their final destination in Mali.
The Loulo Mine is being developed at a cash cost of US$85 million, of which Randgold
Resources has spent some R200 million in South Africa to date. Work on the mine, which is
scheduled to go into production in the middle of 2005, is currently on schedule.
Randgold Resources has been active in Mali for nearly ten years and has played a major part in
the growth of the country’s gold mining industry, currently ranked third in Africa. The company’s
total investment in Mali has topped US$300 million as the new mine at Loulo takes shape.
John Steele, Randgold Resources’ general manager: capital projects, said from Mali that it was
the company’s policy to source its materials from West and South Africa to the largest extent
possible. This was supported by the sophisticated supply chain it had developed in Africa, as
well as the many partnerships it had with local entrepreneurs throughout Africa.
General manager of the Loulo mine, Amadou Konta noted that aside from the substantial
wealth directly created for Mali through gold mining, the country’s economy was also benefiting
greatly from such knock-on benefits as infrastructure development, job creation, the growth of
feeder industries and investment in sustainable development within the local communities by
the major mining companies.
RANDGOLD RESOURCES ENQUIRIES:
Chief Executive - Dr Mark Bristow [phone]
Financial Director - Roger Williams [phone]
Investor & Media Relations - Kathy du Plessis [phone], Cell: [phone]
[e-mail]
Website: www.randgoldresources.com