Randgold CEO says even top gold miners need to tackle debt

By Silvia Antonioli

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Even the largest gold mining companies may need to restructure their business and reduce their debt burden at a time of weaker gold prices, the chief executive of gold miner Randgold said.

Randgold (RRS.L), a medium-sized gold producer listed in London but with assets in Africa, is looking to expand via exploration and acquisition, seeing opportunities emerging from a shake-up among producers.

"The mining industry has scared the living (hell) out of investors and it's going to take a while for them to come back," chief executive Mark Bristow said in an interview on the sidelines of the Mining Indaba conference.

Over the last decade gold miners have raised about $150 billion (£98.4 billion) in new capital and have piled up debt which from 2016 will cost them on average an extra $100 an ounce, portfolio manager Catherine Raw at commodity fund Blackrock said in December.

"I think it'll be 2016 where the industry gets to a position where it's unsustainable and has to see major restructuring," Bristow said.

As financing and equity investors have lost confidence in a sector that chased expansion during boom times but failed to control costs, it could be difficult for many to refinance.

Bristow said 2016 looked like the right year for Randgold to make an acquisition. The company is looking for a mine producing at least 3 million ounces of gold a year with a 20 percent return with prices at $1,000.

That's an ambitious target since only a handful of mines fulfil that criteria and they are mostly owned by big firms such as Newmont (NEM.N), Barrick (ABX.TO) and Kinross (K.TO).

"If there is a discovery like that, now is going to be (a) hard (time) to bring it to (completion) so that's an opportunity as well," Bristow said.

(Editing by Ruth Pitchford)