MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. Polymetal scaled up production by 6% year on year to 1.272 mln Troy ounces in the gold equivalent in nine months of 2023, the largest Russian primary silver producer and the second largest gold producer reports.
In particular, 932,000 ounces were produced at Russian assets and 340,000 at Kazakh assets.
The company boosted production by 12% year on year to 508,000 ounces of the gold equivalent in the third quarter of this year, "driven by increases within Russian operations (Urals, Mayskoye and Dukat)," Polymetal reported.
"The Company recorded a materially lower sales-production gap versus the previous quarter," Polymetal noted. Sales volumes over the first nine months of 2023 totaled 1.1 mln ounces of the gold equivalent. "New challenges facing sales from Russia include sale of silver bullion (instead of concentrate) and significant tightening of concentrate exports regulations," the gold miner noted.
Revenues surged by 22% to $2.149 bln over nine months of 2023. Polymetal’s revenues moved up by 17% to $384 mln amid recovering sales volumes and rising metals prices. The company also confirmed the 2023 production outlook of 1.7 mln ounces in the gold equivalent.
The net debt of Polymetal stood at $2.33 bln as of the end of the third quarter, down 10% quarterly, "as the Company generated positive free cash flow supported by seasonal factor and inventories release, as well as enjoyed lower costs and lower value of ruble-denominated debt due to favorable exchange rate movements."
"In Q3, we returned to positive cash flow generation after seasonal working capital release and a decline in previously accumulated gold bullion. We continue to work on further release of unsold inventories and production in line with the guidance", Group CEO Vitaly Nesis said in a comment.