Russia: gold output up in 2019

In 2019, Russia extracted 367.952 tons of gold, up by 12% YoY. 286.563 tons accounted for extracted gold, up by 9.5%. Auxiliary gold totaled 18.134 tons, up by 17.4%. And the rest accounted for gold-containing concentrates and secondary precious metal. Polyus provided almost a quarter of all ore gold – 88.36 tons, up by 16.4%.…

Russia: steel consumption to fall in Q2 2020

The quarantine introduced to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, will affect steel consumption in Russia. In April-May, consumption could fall by 25%, as state expenses on infrastructure projects have fallen considerably. According to VTB-Capital analysts, in February steel consumption in Russia grew by 5% YoY, following an increase of 12% in January. In Q1 the…

Russia: Mechel stripped of 2 iron ore licenses

Because of high debts and lack of funds for development Mechel has lost licenses to develop Pionerskoye and Sivaglinskoye iron ore deposits in Yakutia with combined reserves of over 160 million tons. In December 2019, the Russian Subsoil Use Service stopped Mechel’s right to use the deposits ahead of schedule. The company has not fulfilled…