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Governor says next three years will be difficult for gold production in Russia’s Chukotka

This is caused by the fact that large gold production projects are coming to an end and the new ones are yet to be put into operation

ANADYR, May 4. /TASS/. The next three years will be difficult for Russia’s Chukotka autonomous District due to reduction of gold production there, Roman Kopin the District’s governor told TASS.

This is caused by the fact that large gold production projects are coming to an end and the new ones are yet to be put into operation, he said.

"The peculiarity of gold projects is that they are usually relatively small and have a finite service life of 5, 10, 15 years, sooner or later they end. Chukotka is now in a situation when large projects are starting to end and the new ones are yet to be launched. Therefore the three years 2017, 2018 and 2019 will be quite difficult for Chukotka, because this time will be marked by a decrease in the extraction of precious metals," Kopin said.

The government of the Chukotka Autonomous District, together with investors, is working together to launch new fields in the coming years. In particular it concerns obtaining required permits for additional exploration of reserves, creation of the infrastructure necessary for the operation of mines - roads, power lines.

"The region is still a "gold" region, and our strategy is primarily gold. We help subsoil users who are already working there with their permits so they can build up more reserves to the existing projects. We also help them create the infrastructure," the head of the region added.

Now the power transmission line is being switched to the Kekura field, which should be put into operation in the coming years. Besides that, the government of Chukotka intends to develop extraction of other mineral resources in the region. This will be done at the expense of coal mining as part of the Beringovsky advanced development territory" and the development of the Baimskoye polymetallic deposit.

According to the data the Federal Agency on Subsoil Usage voiced at the conference "North-East: Territory of development" in Moscow on April 27, the analysis of the movement of gold reserves in the Chukotka Autonomous District showed that by 2023 the volume of gold mining will drop to 13.7 tonnes. The loss can be partially compensated when the following deposits are commissioned in the coming years: Klen, Peschanoye and Kekura. Now Chukotka produces up to 30 tonnes of gold per year.