(Corrects last paragraph to remove Randgold Resources (L:RRS) as an owner of Sadiola mine)
BAMAKO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Mali's gold production could rise to around 60 tonnes a year by the end of 2017 as a series of new projects comes online, the West African nation's mining minister said on Tuesday.
Mali is Africa's third-largest gold producer after South Africa and Ghana and mined 49.865 tonnes of the precious metal last year. The sector contributes around a quarter of government revenues.
While output is expected to slip slightly this year as production from some mature mines dwindles, Boubou Cisse said that new mine openings would reverse the decline in the coming years.
"I think that if those...projects come to fruition in two and a half years, Mali can return to the levels of 60 tonnes per year in terms of production," he said at an oil and mining conference in the capital Bamako.
Cisse pointed to projects including Vancouver-based firm B2Gold's BTO.TO Fekola mine, believed to hold the largest gold deposits in West Africa and due to open in 2017. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N10N4UG
He also said that the Nampala mine, owned by Canadian firm Robex RBX.V , had overcome earlier technical delays and was expected to enter production in the first quarter of 2016.
Subterranean mines were expected to open at Sadiola, owned by Anglogold Ashanti ANGJ.J and Iamgold IMG.TO , and Syama, controlled by Australia's Resolute Mining RSG.AX .