Bristow is among the leading mining executives interviewed for the "Mining Journal Global Leadership Report: Preparing for transformation" being published this month.

He said the mining industry's inward-looking habits and "short termism" were creating issues.

"The industry is running the risk of becoming irrelevant," he said.

Africa-focused Randgold has mines in Mali, Cote d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo and is nearing a development decision on its Massawa project in Senegal.

Bristow did not believe the company had been disadvantaged being in Africa, in terms of opportunities to leverage technology.

"In fact, we have found an advantage over traditional hubs such as Canada, which are resistant to change - they have an old mature workforce because, in mature economies, bright young people have moved on to other industries," he said.

Bristow has been CEO of Randgold since its incorporation in 1995.

This is based on an interview with Randgold Resources CEO Mark Bristow as part of the ‘Mining Journal Global Leadership Report: Preparing for transformation', which will be published in late June. The report features around 20 in-depth interviews with the industry's leading mining executives and the results of our industry-wide survey focused on transformational influences (technology, stakeholder engagement etc) and the readiness of mining leaders to meet these challenges.