Russia mines 8.8% more gold in 2009
MOSCOW. Feb 1 (Interfax) - Russia mined 178.289 tonnes of gold in 2009, up 8.8% from 2008, a source at the State Precious Metals and Gemstones Repository (Gokhran) told Interfax.
Overall gold production, including secondary and byproduct gold, rose 11.2% to 205.237 tonnes.
Russian gold production in 2009 (kilograms):
| 2008 | 2009 | |
| Mine | 163 891,3 | 178 288,5 |
| Incidental | 8 140 | 12 404,1 |
| Secondary | 12 456 | 14 543,9 |
| Total | 184 487,3 | 205 236,5 |
Major production growth was achieved by Kinross Gold's Kupol mine, Petropavlovsk plc's Pioneer mine, High River Gold's Berezitovoye mine, and Polyus Gold's Olimpiada mine, among others.
The Union of Russian Gold Producers said in a statement that the Chukotka, Kamchatka, Amur, Sverdlovsk and Irkutsk regions and the republic of Buryatia contributed most to growth in gold production last year, as in 2008.
Gold mine production by region (kg):
| Region | 2009 | 2008 | Change, kg | Change, % |
| Krasnoyarsk | 33775,4 | 33525,4 | + 250,0 | + 0.7 |
| Chukotka | 31206,5 | 20090,4 | + 11116,1 | + 55.3 |
| Amur | 21930,7 | 18747,2 | + 3183,5 | + 17.0 |
| Yakutia | 18605,5 | 18935,7 | - 330,2 | - 1.7 |
| Irkutsk | 14952,9 | 14550,4 | + 402,5 | + 2.8 |
| Khabarovsk | 14672,6 | 16231,1 | - 1558,5 | - 9.6 |
| Magadan | 13688,8 | 13920,2 | - 231,4 | - 1.7 |
| Sverdlovsk | 7345,5 | 6740,9 | + 604,6 | + 9.0 |
| Buryatia | 6598,1 | 6224,3 | + 373,8 | + 6.0 |
| Trans-Baikal (formerly Chita region) | 5473,9 | 5736,8 | - 262,9 | - 4.6 |
| Chelyabinsk | 3922,8 | 3746,8 | + 176,0 | + 4.7 |
| Kamchatka | 2269,3 | 1474,8 | + 794,5 | + 53.9 |
| Tuva | 1191,3 | 1370,0 | - 178,7 | - 13.0 |
| Khakasia | 730,2 | 658,2 | + 72,0 | + 10.9 |