Russia’s gold production increased by three percent from January through September against the same period a year ago, according to the Gold Industrialists' Union.
Gold output reached 243,000 kilograms, the data from the Moscow-based group showed. The significant boost was reportedly due to increased volumes of ore processing in several of the country’s gold mines, including Olimpiada, the Blagodatnoe gold-sulfide deposit, the Verninskoe and Kuranakh mines, as well as others.
Production of high karat gold saw a two-percent increase, while by-product gold output was reduced by 13 percent. Scrap gold production declined by four percent. Output of the precious metal from derived products saw an enormous increase of 57 percent.
Russia is currently third in the global rating of gold miners after Australia and China. The Russian gold mining sector has nearly doubled its volume of extraction over the last two decades. Over the last ten years, the country’s producers mined 2,189 tons of gold, the Russian Union of Gold Producers reported in January.
Earlier this year, the Moscow-based Institute of Geotechnology forecasted that in less than a decade Russia may change its position in the rating of global gold miners. The country is expected to become the world's second-largest producer due to the further boost of production.
Russia's gold production had seen an annual growth by up to seven percent on average in ten years through 2017. Top producer Polyus and Polymetal used to account for most of the growth last year, and are expected to do so again in 2018.
Russia may be one of the world's biggest gold producers, but it’s just the twentieth in the ranking of the biggest exporters of the precious metal, according to the trade metrics service World's Top Exports. Most of the country’s gold is purchased by the government to boost national gold reserves.
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