Gold
History Price
World Silver
Price
Silver History Price
World
Platinum Price
Platinum History Price
Featured Item
PLATINUM NEWS
Russias platinum group metal producers
Article # : platinum194
Russia's platinum group metal producers
Almost all of Russia's platinum group metals are supplied by three mining companies and from state reserves.
* Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest palladium miner, forecasts output of palladium at 2.610-2.625 million ounces in 2009 and platinum at 600,000-620,000 ounces.
In 2008, it produced 2.821 million ounces of palladium and 659,000 ounces of platinum.
Norilsk does not disclose data on other platinum group metals, which it produces as a by-product of nickel and copper.
* Amur, based in the far eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk, produced 120,000 ounces of platinum in 2008, according to Johnson Matthey, a slight increase from the 119,150 ounces produced in 2007.
Amur is majority controlled by Alliance Group, which owns 94.5 percent of the company through its Alliance-Prom subsidiary and a group of affiliated firms.
Moscow-based Alliance is also involved in oil extraction and refining in the Russian Far East.
* Koryakgeoldobycha, or KGD, mines around 70,000 ounces per year on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East. KGD is controlled by oil-to-metals group Renova, majority owned by billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.
Amur and KGD both mine gold from alluvial deposits.
* State platinum group metal stocks are held by the state depository Gokhran and the Central Bank and are a state secret. Nearly all metals in state stocks are believed to have been produced by Norilsk Nickel.
* Until early 2007, platinum group metals could be exported within government-issued quotas. After the quotas were abolished, producers and the state are not restricted in the quantity they can export but still have to obtain an export licence from the Industry and Trade Ministry.
Source: chinamining.org