(Adds quote, background on Gertler, Kibali projections)
By Aaron Ross
KINSHASA, April 19 (Reuters) - Randgold Resources RRS.L
has entered a joint venture in Democratic Republic of Congo with
a company controlled by Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler and a
state miner, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.
The gold project in northeastern Congo with Moku Goldmines
AG, majority-owned by Gertler's Fleurette Group, and state miner
Sokimo could allow Randgold to acquire a minimum 51 percent
stake by backing exploration of the site, CEO Mark Bristow said.
"The mining industry is in difficult times and some of the
companies that used to have exploration projects ... have run
out of cash," he told reporters in the capital Kinshasa.
"We have secured a number of joint ventures which give us a
big footprint in the northeastern DRC to continue to explore and
maybe be able to add another mine or even two to our portfolio,"
he added.
Gertler's Fleurette Group holds stakes in various copper,
cobalt and oil projects in Congo, including two copper-cobalt
joint ventures with Swiss commodities giant Glencore GLEN.L .
Gertler's mining firms have been the target of transparency
campaigners in the past. According to the Africa Progress Panel,
headed by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Congo lost
out on at least $1.36 billion in potential tax revenue between
2010 and 2012 in five mining deals involving Gertler.
Gertler denies wrongdoing and says he has contributed
significantly to the country's development.
Randgold operates the Kibali mine in northeastern Congo,
which is adjacent to its new project. Kibali, a joint venture
with AngloGold Ashanti ANGJ.J and Sokimo, produced 642,720
ounces of gold in 2015.
Earlier this year, Randgold signed joint ventures in
northeastern Congo with the Toronto-listed Kilo Goldmines
KGL.V , Deveron Resources DVR.V and Loncor Resources LN.TO .
Kibali and other new gold mines opened by companies such as
Banro Corporation BAA.TO have boosted Congo's gold output from
near zero in 2011 to more than 25 tonnes in 2015.
Randgold said in the statement that it expects output at
Kibali to fall to 610,000 ounces in 2016 and 620,000 ounces in
2017 because it will be mining lower grade ore.
(Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and David Clarke)