Production at Cote D'Ivore-based Randgold Resources' Tongon mine has returned to normal after a fire in the mills section of the plant three weeks ago, an announcement from the company issued on Monday morning showed.

Both mill circuits are expected to be fully operational within two weeks.

Randgold Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow, commented: "Tongon represents the biggest single investment to date in this part of Côte d'Ivoire, and when we made that investment, we invested not only in a mine but in this country.

"We are currently exploring our extensive tenements elsewhere in Côte d'Ivoire and we hope to discover further multi-million ounce gold deposits here and, with the support of the government, to develop these into world-class mines."

Despite a series of setbacks, the mine produced 210,000 ounces of gold in 2012.

The mine's development was given the go-ahead at a time of political volatility in Côte d'Ivoire, having been commissioned in a climate of confusion created by the disputed presidential election.

MF

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