Polyus Gold boosts gold output 9% to 1.2 mln oz in 9M, revenue up 16%
MOSCOW. Oct 18 (Interfax) - Polyus Gold International Ltd (PGIL), the controlling shareholder in No. 1 Russian gold miner Polyus Gold , boosted output of the metal 9% year-on-year in January-September to 1.2 million oz, the company said in a statement.
Sales revenue jumped 16% year-on-year $2 billion. The company sold 1.201 million oz of gold in the 9M of 2012, up from 1.099 million oz in the same period of last year. The average realized sale price rose 6% to $1.642/oz.
Polyus Gold reaffirmed its 2012 production outlook at 1.6 million ounces of gold or 1.5 million ounces excluding the group's Kazakhstan-based assets.
It said there had been a significant increase in gold production at the Olimpiada (+11%), Blagodatnoye (+8%) and Kuranakh (+21%) mines in 9M 2012.
The Natalka mine construction is on track with all processing equipment procured and construction of foundations, including for the mill, started.
"Polyus Gold has delivered a strong set of results despite our flagship Olimpiada mine facing a challenging third quarter due to disruptions in electricity supply. The impact of these circumstances which were beyond the Company's control was offset by an excellent performance at our new generation of mines including Blagodatnoye and Titimukhta and steady contribution by Kuranakh and alluvials. The Verninskoye ramp up and Natalka construction continued as planned," said German Pikhoya, Chief Executive Officer of Polyus Gold.
"With the stability of electricity supply to Olimpiada now restored, we reconfirm our full year production guidance and look forward to the operational improvements being translated into an even stronger financial position."
Polyus Gold is Russia's largest gold producer, developing ore and alluvial deposits in the Krasnoyarsk territory and the Irkutsk, Magadan and Amur regions in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Jersey-based Polyus Gold International Ltd. controls over 95% of the Russian company.
Polyus stock started circulating in the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange this June. Its chief beneficiaries, according to company data as of December 31, 2011, are structures of Suleiman Kerimov's Nafta Moskva (40.2%) and Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim group (37.8%). Besides that, VTB owns 3.35% of Polyus Gold, and China's Chendong, a subsidiary of the sovereign fund CIC International, owns 5% minus one share. Free float is about 22%.