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Randgold seeking to cut ties, nix gold JV with embattled billionaire Dan Gertler

Randgold Resources Ltd. is looking to drop its relationship with Dan Gertler after the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Israeli billionaire over alleged corruption, Bloomberg News reported Feb. 5, citing CEO Mark Bristow.

According to the report, the company was partnering with Gertler's Fleurette Group for joint development of the Moku-Beverendi gold project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"We've called force majeure and given them notice that in our view they are in default because we cannot continue to operate under these terms," Bristow said. The company is awaiting a response from the Fleurette Group.

In December 2017, the U.S. government sanctioned Gertler, one of the biggest individual mining investors in the Congo, for using his relationship with DRC President Joseph Kabila to broker mining deals in the country.

The country lost over US$1.36 billion in revenues between 2010 and 2012 over deals with Gertler-linked companies. As a result of the sanctions, assets held by Gertler within U.S. jurisdictions were blocked and U.S. individuals are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

In July 2017, the Ontario Securities Commission investigated Glencore Plc's Katanga Mining Ltd. unit over US$100 million paid to a Cayman Islands incorporated company owned by Gertler.

Furthermore, Glencore was implicated in the Paradise Papers leak in November 2017, where it allegedly loaned Gertler US$45 million as the company recruited him to secure a mining agreement over the Katanga copper project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.