Magadan region to produce 30.5 tonnes of gold, 675 tonnes of silver in 2017 - governor
MAGADAN. April 10 (Interfax) - The mineral resource production targets for Magadan region in 2017 are 30.5 tonnes of gold, 675 tonnes of silver, 5,400 tonnes of lead and 320 tonnes of coal, according to figures voiced at a meeting the regional leadership held with representatives from gold mining companies in the region.
In 2016, Magadan produced 27.9 tonnes of gold, over 889 tonnes of silver, 5,700 tonnes of lead and about 400,000 tonnes of coal, the regional government press center said, citing Governor Vladimir Pecheny.
"In future, Kolyma has the ability to attain a leading position in precious metals production in Russia," Pecheny said at the meeting.
"This year PJSC Polyus plans to launch the biggest mining enterprise in Russia at the Natalka field. Pavlik's mill will achieve design capacity and Polymetal will begin processing ore from the Olcha field, and later on from Yolochka, Nevenrekan and Nizhny Birkachan. In the near future, Pavlik plans to bring the Pavlik-2 and Rodionovskoye fields under development," Pecheny said.
"With intensive development of deposits in the Yano-Kolyma gold ore province and of the Shamanikho-Stolbovskoye and Rassoshinskoye alluvial gold deposits by 2023-2025, there is every chance to attain first place in gold production in Russia," he said.
The mining sector accounted for 84.3% of the region's industrial output in 2016, the head of the regional natural resources and economy ministry Vladimir Mitkin said. The industrial production index for subsurface resources amounted to 101.7% last year, compared with 101.6% for industry overall.
The mining industry generated nearly 13 billion rubles in revenue for the regional budget, 3.7 billion rubles more than in 2015. Revenue from the mineral extraction tax (MET) totaled 4.1 billion rubles, 970 million rubles more than in 2015.
In the last two years, Magadan region has risen to third place from fifth in terms of gold production, behind just Krasnoyarsk territory (which produced over 49 tonnes of gold last year) and Chukotka (over 29 tonnes). Kolyma remains the leader in placer gold production (over 15.9 tonnes in 2016). Despite the expected decline in silver production, Magadan remains Russia's leading silver producer.
"Placer gold production in 2016 was the most dating back to 1997 [when 15.4 tonnes was produced]. Since 2009, hard-rock gold production in Magadan has risen steadily, from 5.5 tonnes to 11.9 tonnes. Hard-rock gold production in 2016 was 2.7 tonnes higher compared with 2015," Mitkin said.
Silver production declined in 2016 in line with the production program at Polymetal, which accounts for 98% of silver production in Magadan region. Silver production totaled 889.2 tonnes in 2016, 238.3 tonnes less than in 2015.
Geological exploration work totaling 6.3 billion rubles was conducted in 2016, of which 5.9 billion rubles from resource users and 0.4 billion rubles from the federal budget, resulting in reserve increases of 12.9 tonnes for gold (0.9 tonnes for placer gold) and 37.8 tonnes for silver.