Randgold says its UK carbon ranking "incorrect"

The West African-focused gold producer said in a statement that a claim by non-profit research body Environmental Investment Organization that Randgold's emissions reporting data was not fully available was "unfounded."

"Randgold filed its greenhouse emission figures for 2007, 2008 and 2009 as part of the 2010 Carbon Disclosure Project and that these were consequently a matter of public record and could be viewed at https://www.cdproject.net," said Rod Quick, the company's general manager.

An EIO report on Wednesday ranked Randgold at the bottom of a ranking of 100 UK companies according to their emissions intensity and how transparent they are in reporting their emissions output.

The firm disputed the report's measure of its emissions intensity as well as its contentions regarding transparency.

The EIO told Reuters on Thursday it stood by its ranking methodology.

"Third-party reporting on behalf of a company, which may involve restrictions or permissions (like The Carbon Disclosure Project) or payment, is not defined as publicly and freely available," the EIO said.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Jason Neely)