TASS. December 13. /TASS/. Mining companies, working in the Russian Far East’s Chukotka Autonomous Region, have produced in the current year 23.6 tonnes of gold and 121.5 tonnes of silver, the local government’s press service said on Wednesday.

"In January-November, the gold production was at 23.6 tonnes, the silver production - at 121.5 tonnes," the government said in a statement. "The leading producer is the Chukotka Mining-Geology Company, which at the Kupol deposit extracted 8.9 tonnes of gold and 103 tonnes of silver."

The Northern Gold Company, developing the Dvoinoye deposit, produced 7.3 ore gold and more than eleven tonnes of silver. In Chukotka, five companies are extracting placer gold. Since beginning of the year, they have produced 2.3 tonnes, showing a growth by 201 kilograms, or 9%, year-on-year.

The season’s final results are due in January, 2018, and at that time it would be clear how the precious metals’ production had declined. According to reports from the regional government, in 2016 the region produced 29.2 tonnes of gold and 162.7 tonnes of silver.

The Arctic region takes the fifth position among the world’s deposits. At the same time, Chukotka’s only 5% have been explored, and remote methods have analyzed between 10 and 15% of the region’s territory.