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Article out today-

Australia's Newcrest Mining Limited has launched an expansion of its Bonikro gold mine in Ivory Coast that will allow it to triple production by 2017, according to a statement posted on the website of Ivory Coast's ministry of mines.

Bonikro, in which Newcrest owns an 89.9 percent stake, began commercial production in 2008 and currently produces around four tonnes of gold annually.

"Newcrest has begun an extension in order to triple its production by 2017," the statement read, adding that the company had already invested 157 billion CFA francs ($299.09 million) in the operation.

The Ivorian government, with its 10 percent stake in operating company LGL Mines CI, received a dividend payment of 155 million CFA last week.

Ivory Coast produces about 7 tonnes of gold per year, a figure it hopes to nearly double to 13 tonnes per year by 2013 thanks to the start-up of new mines.