Monday November 2, 02:04 PM
UPDATE 1-Russia gold output up 14.6 pct in Jan-Sept
MOSCOW, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Russian gold production rose 14.6 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2009, mainly due to the launch of some large projects in the far east, the Russian Gold Industrialists' Union, said on Monday.
The Union, the industry lobby, said in a statement gold output by the world's No.5 miner of the yellow metal totalled 151.3 tonnes in January-September compared to 132.0 tonnes in the same period a year ago.
September gold output from mines and placers declined by nearly 2 tonnes from the same month a year ago, but a rise of volumes refined as a by-product of other metals cut the total decline to just 0.4 tonnes.
Output of gold produced as a by-product of other metals rose 45.2 percent to 13.34 tonnes in the first nine months of this year and output achieved by refining gold from scrap declined by 3 percent to 5.31 tonnes.
Russia produced about 8 percent of the world's gold last year and plans to significantly increase this share by developing its reserves that are second only to South Africa's.
It aims to produce 205 tonnes of gold this year, up 11.1 percent year-on-year.
The union attributed the latest increase to the launch of production at Kinross Gold (K.TO - news) 's Kupol mine in the remote Chukotka region, as well as the Karalveyem mine in the same region.
Peter Hambro Mining's Pioneer (Berlin: PIO.BE - news) project and High River Gold (HRG.TO - news) 's Berezitovy mine in Amur region and the Aginskoye project, run by Kamgold on the far eastern peninsula of Kamchatka, also contributed to the rise, the Union said.
The biggest producing region in January-September was Krasnoyarsk, where Russia's top producer Polyus Gold operates the Olympiada mine.
Chukotka, a region governed until last year by billionaire Roman Abramovich, was the second and far eastern regions of Amur, Yakutia and Irkutsk were third, fourth and fifth respectively in terms of production, the Union said.
(Reporting by Aleksandras Budrys) Keywords: GOLD RUSSIA/OUTPUT
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