Johannesburg - Randgold Resources, which may bid for Ashanti Goldfields, said Ghana's right to veto decisions by Ashanti's management would not be an obstacle to its bid.

Randgold chief executive Mark Bristow said: "We are not concerned about it one way or the other. We are absolutely neutral on it."

The government owns 17 percent of Accra, Ghana-based Ashanti. Randgold, based in Jersey, Channel Islands, has said it might offer $1.44 billion in stock for Ashanti, which would top a $1.23 billion offer from AngloGold.

AngloGold has declined to comment about the veto, known as the golden share.

London-based Lonmin is the biggest shareholder in Ashanti, with a 27 percent holding.

It has said it might consider a bid from Randgold to rival AngloGold's only if it was in cash.

Bristow said he was mindful of Lonmin's preference and would work to convince the company to accept Randgold stock.

Randgold "will work hard to convince [Lonmin] that they have a valuable and fair payment for their paper", he said.

Bristow said his company's possible bid was not backed by a larger firm, as had been speculated. His company had not been set a deadline to formalise its bid, though the end of September "is a pretty key date", he said.