Russia to boost gold output up to 200 tons in next 2-3 years

The volume of gold produced in Russia will exceed 200 tons in the next two-three years, Chairman of the Russian Union of Miners Viktor Tarakanovsky told reporters today. According to the official, Russia's gold output will rise owing to a drastic increase in gold ore mining and the exploration of new deposits. 10 new deposits are expected to be tapped in the near future. According to Tarakanovsky, in 2002 Russia's gold output was over 170 tons, of which gold ore accounts for 56-58 percent. In 2003, according to the Russian Union of Miners' estimate, gold output is expected to grow by 10-15 tons.

As it was reported earlier, over the past ten years around 1,400 tons of gold were produced in Russia. 28 gold mining plants are currently operating in Russia. The following regions account for the larger part (around 80 percent) of the overall gold output in Russia: Magadan, Krasnoyarsk, the republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Khabarovsk, Irkutsk and Amur regions.