Russia boosted 2008 gold output 13.3 percent to 184.49 tonnes (5.93 million ounces), reversing five years of decline, after several of its biggest miners raised production, the main industry lobby said on Friday. The rise exceeded the Russian Gold Industrialists' Union's forecast 8 percent increase.
Kinross Gold Corp launched its large Kupol mine in Chukotka last year, while Peter Hambro Mining and Polymetal also raised output. The union said 2008 gold output from mines rose 13.1 percent to 163.89 tonnes, compared with 144.85 tonnes in 2007. Valery Braiko, the union's head, told Reuters production at Russia's mines would be steady this year. "Our preliminary estimate is the same level, with the possible addition of 1 or 2 tonnes," he said.
Russia's gold reserves are second only to South Africa's and the country has plans to increase output significantly in the next decade by opening up new deposits in Siberia and the Far East. It traditionally ranks fifth or sixth in terms of output. Total gold production in 2007 was 162.84 tonnes.
The union said in a statement 2008 output achieved by refining gold from scrap rose 22.9 percent to 8.14 tonnes, from 5.87 tonnes a year earlier. Gold as a by-product of other metals rose 2.8 percent to 12.46 tonnes, from 12.12 tonnes. Braiko did not give a 2009 estimate for refining gold from scrap or as a by-product of other metals.
Most Russian gold is mined in the country's east. The largest contributor to production last year was the eastern Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk, where top Russian miner Polyus Gold has its biggest mine, Olympiada. It was followed by the eastern republic of Yakutia (Sakha) and the far eastern region of Amur, union data showed. Polyus Gold produced 38 tonnes (1.2 million ounces) of gold in 2008, flat from 2007, and equivalent to 20.6 percent of Russia's total output last year.