Russia ramps up gold production despite pandemic

Gold mining companies of Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula produced more than 6.8 tons of the yellow metal last year, which is an almost eight percent increase year-on-year.

According to Elena Kasyanyuk, deputy head of the subsoil use and mining department of the regional ministry of natural resources and ecology, the growth was due to the production performance of gold ore. She told TASS that the extraction of coal and minerals has also increased slightly.

Kamchatka authorities plan to increase gold output to 10 tons by 2022 by commissioning new mining and processing plants. Among those are the Kumroch gold deposit with a capacity of up to 500,000 tons of ore per year and the mining plant at the Ozernovsky gold deposit (600,000 tons of ore per year). 

In terms of gold production Kamchatka ranks tenth among the Russian regions. The country’s gold production has been growing steadily, with Russia adding to its huge forex reserves, which are currently estimated at around $600 billion. The bullion holdings alone are worth over $128 billion, according to the country’s central bank.

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