Randgold Resources Ltd. CEO Mark Bristow told Reuters that the company is targeting its first acquisition outside of Africa in a bid to diversify its asset holdings, the newswire reported Feb. 20.

"We would rather stay in our time zone and go West. So South America, North America, the Americas in general," Bristow said, adding that the company has "US$900 million of ammunition" for potential deals. The CEO, however, ruled out potential targets in Europe, Australia, Russia or Asia, where he said mines tend to be small and local partners are hard to find.

Should the company fail to find an asset that falls in line with its appetite, it will continue to give money back to shareholders, Bristow added.

Randgold has operations in Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is among the companies opposing the implementation of a new mining code in the DRC.