“From here to 2015, production of gold in Ivory Coast will be at least 20 tonnes per year because of the new mines,” Mbe Adou, general director of mines and geology told Reuters.
The world’s top cocoa grower and a modest producer of oil, is eager to diversify its economy in part by developing its mining sector which now makes up just 1 percent of gross domestic product.
Current annual gold output from Ivory Coast is about 7 tonnes from mines operated by Societe des Mines D’Ity, LGL, and Cluff, he said.
Adou said output would start to rise after Randgold begins operations at its Tongon mine in the north of the country in November. Australia’s Occidental and Canada’s Etruscan mining firms will also start operations in the next three years.
Randgold said earlier this year it expected to produce 75,000 ounces of gold from Tongon in 2010 before ramping up to 280,000 ounces annually.
Source: Africanews