Russia's largest gold producer Polyus Gold increased gold production by 18 percent in January-June 2012, year on year, to 721,000 ounces, the company said on Wednesday.
The company’s gold output expanded in the reporting period after the company built up production at the Olimpiada and Blagodatnoye gold mines in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in East Siberia and the Kuranakh gold mine in Yakutia in the northeast.
Polyus Gold also attributed its gold output growth to the launch of the Verninskoye gold mine in the Irkutsk Region in East Siberia. Average selling gold prices grew 14 percent in the reporting period to $1,634 per ounce.
"With continuing improvement in recovery rates at Olimpiada, sustained increase in production at Blagodatnoye and Kuranakh and the ramp up of Verninskoye, we are well positioned to consolidate our position as the largest London-listed gold producer both in terms of output and market capitalization," Polyus Gold CEO German Pikhoya said.
Headquartered in Moscow, Polyus Gold's operating mines and development and exploration projects are located in Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Meanwhile, gold production of Nordgold mining company, owned by Russia's largest steelmaker Severstal until 2012, fell 13.8 percent in the first half of this year to 321,000 ounces. The company said in a statement it also decreased its forecast on 2012 gold output by 10 percent to 720,000-770,000 ounces.
