20 Aug 2009 16:31

Russia boosts gold production 13.9% in 7 mths

MOSCOW. Aug 20 (Interfax) - Russia boosted gold mine production 13.9% year-on-year in January-July, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.

Output rose 3.3% year-on-year in July and was up 20.7% from June 2009.

Rosstat did not say how much gold Russia produced.

The Gold Producers' Union has said Russia increased boosted gold mine production 27% year-on-year in the first half of 2009 to 66.94 tonnes and that overall gold production, including mine output, incidental or byproduct gold and secondary production or recoveries from scrap, rose 24.6% year-on-year to 77.349 tonnes.

The Amur and Chukotka regions generated most of the growth in mine output in H1 2009. Major production growth was achieved by Kinross Gold's Kupol mine and Lev Leviev's Karalveem mine in Chukotka, and by Peter Hambro Mining's Pioneer mine and Severstal Resource's Berezitivoye mine in the Amur region.