Russian companies produced 243 tons of gold in the first nine months of this year, an increase of 3.4% compared to the January-September period last year, the Union of Gold Producers of Russia said on Tuesday, according to local news outlet Prima Media.
The union said the production of gold produced by subsoil users increased by 3% to 194,857 tons, with 11,689 tons of non-ferrous metals having been co-generated. In addition, 25,103 tons of gold have been produced as a result of scrap processing.
Meanwhile, silver production in Russia dropped by 1.6 percent to 1,204 tons over the given period.
The Union of Gold Producers of Russia has confirmed its gold production projection for 2018, which is thought to stand at 328 tons. Silver mining, in turn, is expected to total 1,600 tons in the current year.
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 increase of 57 percent.
Russia is currently third in global gold mining by volume after Australia and China. The country’s industry has nearly doubled its volume of extraction over the last two decades.
Russia’s total gold production had seen an annual growth by up to seven percent on average in ten years through 2017. Top producer Polyus and Jersey-registered Polymetal used to account for most of the growth last year, and are expected to do so again in 2018.
