Randgold Resources is expanding its exploration horizons to encompass the prospective rocks of the Congo Craton.

This area, which ranges from the well known deposits of Tanzania through the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic to Cameroon, could become the next gold belt to deliver multimillion ounce deposits.

The current financial crisis and its associated credit squeeze have generated potentially value-accretive opportunities in this region as well as in West Africa as companies, particularly juniors, run short of funds to develop their projects. Randgold Resources is considering a number of these with a view to possibly acquiring or participating in assets which meet its investment criteria.

Such external opportunities will be rated against the company’s own organic growth prospects, which provide an accurate means of measuring value. Randgold Resources’ success in making its own discoveries gives it the ability to increase its production without having to buy in ounces, and its core goal therefore remains the discovery and development of profitable mining opportunities, and the creation of value through organic growth.