Gold mining in Russia grows

The volume of gold production in Russia increased by 1.8% to 291.2 tons at the end of 2020, representatives of the Ministry of Finance said. At the same time, the total volume of gold production decreased by 1%, to 340.2 tons.

The overall decline in production is attributable to a drop in the volumes of by-product and secondary gold. Thus, the output of by-product gold decreased by 8.7%, to 17.4 tons, whereas the production of secondary gold dropped by 17.9%, to 31.6 tons.

• In 2019, the volume of gold production amounted to 286.1 tons, by-product gold - 19 tons, secondary gold - 38.5 tons.
• The volume of silver mining last year decreased by 10.2%, to 438.4 tons, by-product silver - by 5.8%, to 319.1 tons.
• Secondary silver production soared by 22.8% to 208.3 tons.
• The total volume of silver production in Russia in 2020 amounted to 965.7 tons, which is 3.1% less than in 2019.

It is worth noting that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation stopped buying gold for international reserves since April 1, 2020. At the same time, it was said that the Finance Ministry of Russia had plans to change the structure of the National Welfare Fund, including through the purchase of gold.