Shares in Randgold Resources fell on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading, despite the mining firm reporting a rise in quarterly and half year profit today.

In the second quarter Randgold said that its profits were up 52 per cent on the previous quarter and up 92 per cent from the same quarter in the previous year to $36.4 million.

Profits were aided by higher gold prices and the sale of part of Randgold's stake in Volta Resources for $6.3 million offsetting lower production caused by power cuts in Randgold's flagship Loulo operation in Mali.

In the first half of the year profits were reported as being up 88 per cent from the same period in the previous year.

The company also said that the commissioning of its plant at the new Tongon mine in Côte d'Ivoire was going on ahead of schedule and that its production guidance for the plant for the year had been increased by 10 per cent.

In addition Randgold said it was planning to start construction of its Kibali project in the Democratic Republic of Congo ahead six months to mid-2011.

Mark Bristow, Chief Executive of Randgold Resources, said, "The increased contribution from Tongon will almost make up for the expected shortfall from Loulo, while Morila is holding steady. We're therefore forecasting attributable production to be within 5% of the 477 000 ounces we gave as our guidance at the beginning of the year,"

"This is a creditable performance given the very substantial challenges we're dealing with this year at the start of our multi-mine growth phase."

By 13:15 shares in Randgold Resources were down 3.41 per cent on the FTSE 100 to 5,520.00 pence per share.

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