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World's Largest Gold Producing Countries: Russia
By Alex Létourneau of Kitco NewsWednesday June 18, 2014 9:00 AM
Editor’s Note: Kitco News will be releasing a daily feature during the week of June 16 - June 20 focusing on the world's top five gold producing countries, which will include a daily graphic of the countries largest producing mines.
(Kitco News) - Not quite as secretive and mysterious as Chinese mine production, but certainly not as forthcoming as other countries, Russia’s vast lands hold some large mines and deposits ranking it as the third largest gold producer.
The Olimpiada mine has been producing gold since 1996 and is still a staple of Polyus Gold International’s (LSE:PGIL) country-leading gold production portfolio.
Along with some large-scale production from Canadian-based gold miner Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K)(NYSE:KGC) as well as Russian-based stalwarts Petropavlovsk (LSE:POG) and Nord Gold (LSE:NORD), the country also boasts some production potential.
The fabled Sukhoi Log deposit, owned by the Russian government, allegedly has the mineral reserves to rival FreeportMcMoRan’s Grasberg mine, the world’s largest mine, in Indonesia. Russia’s government has toyed with the idea of selling it for years, but nothing concrete has come from it. Also, it’s in Siberia.
There’s also Polyus Gold’s Natalka mine, for which the company had to delay startup until 2015. Natalka boasts nearly 60 million ounces of gold resources and Polyus said the mine would produce 500,000 ounces of gold in its maiden year, and eventually reach 1.5 million ounces annually.
Russia has seen an overall increase in gold production over the last decade, having produced 5.107 million ounces of gold in 2004. Consistent year-on-year growth to get to nearly 7 million ounces was not the best way to describe the rise; it was a choppy ride.
Data compiled from CPM Group, company reports
Related Stories:
- World's Largest Gold Producing Countries: China
- World's Largest Gold Producing Countries: Australia
- World's Largest Gold Producing Countries: United States
- World's Largest Gold Producing Countries: South Africa
By Alex Létourneau of Kitco News aletourneau@kitco.com
Follow Alex Letourneau @alex_letourneau
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