Russian gold production to grow 2% over next two years - union
MOSCOW. April 27 (Interfax) - Russian gold production could grow 2% over the next two years, Sergei Kashuba, head of the Union of Russian Gold Producers, said during the MiningWorld Russia exhibition.
Production should grow 1% this year compared with last to 297 tonnes, and another 1% in 2017, he said.
He said the growth would be achieved by putting new fields on stream, such as the Seligdar group's Ryabinovoye field and GV Gold's Ugakhan and Drazhnoye fields; and by achieving design capacity at recently commissioned mines like the Arlan investment company's Pavlik, Renova's Ametistovoye, Ugold's Svetlinskoye, Auriant Mining's Tardan and others.
"We forecast that mine production will grow 2%. Byproduct gold output will be unchanged," Kashuba said.
Russia increased gold production 2% last year to 294.257 tonnes, the Union of Russian Gold Producers has said. This includes 235.052 tonnes of mined gold in ingot form, up 2%; 16.731 tonnes of incidental or byproduct gold, up 3%; and 37.725 tonnes of secondary gold, up 5%. Production of gold in concentrates for subsequent sale outside Russia fell, by 17% to 4.749 tonnes.
The 2016 forecast is a "cautiously optimistic" 1% increase for mine output and production as a whole, Kashuba said earlier. The worst-case scenario is zero growth.
The Union sees no sign of substantial growth in gold prices. "I don't see a [driver of price growth] for this period, there is still none. From my point of view the ETF funds could be drivers, as could gold traded in yuan," Kashuba said on April 27.
The Union earlier said it expected a lot of price volatility, ranging between $1,000 and $1,250 an ounce, and an average price of $1,100 in 2016. The benchmark LBMA Gold Price was $1,241.7 on April 26.