Russia and China launch gold mining project in Siberia

The Russian government has Approval given for a partnership with China to mine gold in Siberia. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed the project, which will allow gold to be mined from the Klyuchevskoye reserves. The project is expected to be launched within two years, after which more than 12 million tonnes of gold ore will be processed annually. With an average ore quality of a few grams per tonne, this mine will be able to produce several tens of tonnes of purified gold on an annual basis.

According to the governor of the region, Natalia Zhdanova, the development of this new gold mine is of great importance to the region. Not only does it provide additional income and investment, it also provides an estimated 3,000 full-time jobs in employment. In addition to China, India also wants to participate in this new project. Together, they want to invest almost $500 million in the gold mining sector in this Russian region.

Russia and China invest in gold mining sector

Russia was the third largest gold producer in the world last year, with a gold production of 273 tonnes, after China and Australia. An increasing share of domestic production is bought by the central bank, while the remaining part is destined for domestic consumption and export. Russia has the potential to extract much more precious metal, because there are still many areas where gold has not been extensively searched for before. It is therefore no coincidence that China and India want to invest, as these two countries together account for almost half of the global demand for physical gold.

Indian investment fund SUN Gold and Chinese mining company China National Gold will participate in the project in Siberia. The latter will play an important role because of her experience in mining gold from similar reserves in Inner Mongolia, a region in northern China.

The Russian gold mining sector expects strong growth in the coming years. With the exploitation of new underground gold reserves, national production should increase by half in seven years, while by 2030 it will even be twice as large as current production. Over the past two decades, the mining sector of Russia has also doubled its production. According to the Russian Union of Gold Producers, a total of 2,189 tons of gold were extracted from the ground in the past ten years.