MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - Gold output in Russia grew 24.6%, year-on-year, in January-June 2009 to 77.3 metric tons (2.5 million troy ounces), the Union of Russian Gold Miners said on Monday.
Gold production decreased 23.5% in June 2009, year-on-year, due to lower alluvial gold output, the union said.
The production growth in the reporting period is largely attributable to production buildup in Russia's easternmost territory of Chukotka and the Amur Region in the Russian Far East, the union said.
Russia's largest gold miner is Polyus Gold, whose operating mines and development and exploration projects are located in five major gold mining regions of Russia - the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk Region in Siberia, the Far Eastern Magadan and Amur Regions, and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in East Siberia.
Russia's gold production increased 13.3% in 2008, year-on-year, to 184.49 metric tons (5.9 million troy ounces).