Randgold fires back at Congo state miner over merger dispute

28th Sep 2018 16:54

(Sharecast News) - Randgold on Friday refuted reports from Congo's state miner Sokimo that a merger with Barrick will see a new partner in the Kibali joint venture in the Democratic Republic of Congo.The gold miner countered the claims from the state miner that a new partner would "assert its rights" in the Kibali joint venture between the two companies and AngloGold by stating that the merger would have "no effect".Canadian miner Barrick Gold agreed to buy Randgold this week in an $18.3bn share deal that would see the creation of the world's largest gold company by value and output.The initial statement from Sokimo stated that the merger represented an effort from foreign companies "to impose themselves, without any prior discussion, in the countries from which the resources that make up their wealth are extracted".Kibali is one of Africa's largest mines, and is 45% owned by Randgold, 45% by AngloGold and 10% by Sokimo.Randgold has been locked into a bitter dispute with Congolese authorities this year over a new mining code that raises taxes and removes a 10-year stability clause on mining firms' existing deals with the government.Randgold's shares were up 3.61% at 5,450.00p at 1712 BST.