Russia holds the second largest mine gold reserves worldwide. In 2021, the
stood at 6.8 thousand metric tons, only lower than Australia's. Furthermore,
after China and Australia, measuring at 300 metric tons in 2021. Russia's gold mining industry is mainly located in the Siberian and the Far Eastern Federal Districts. The
Russia's leading gold miners
The leading producer of gold in Russia is Polyus, a public joint-stock company (PJSC) founded in 2006.
Polyus produced approximately 86 metric tons of gold in 2021, twice the output of the second major company, Polymetal International. The
largest gold mine in Russia, Olimpiada, is operated by Polyus. In 2021, gold production at Olimpiada exceeded 1.1 million ounces. The third largest mine, Kupol, produced over 481.1 thousand ounces of gold in 2021 and was owned by Canadian Kinross Gold until June 2022. While folding up its presence on the Russian market in response to the war in Ukraine, Kinross Gold sold the mine complex to Highland Gold Mining, a UK-based company focusing on operations in Russia.
Russian gold import ban
A ban on gold imports from Russia was a part of Western sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the U.S.) prohibited them in June 2022. The reasoning behind the ban was the significant role of gold as an income source in Russia's budget.
Metals were the second leading export commodity of Russia after mineral products. Furthermore, sanctions targeting the gold industry could harm Russian banks and wealthy individuals. Sales to the
UK contributed the most to Russia's gold export revenue, at around 15.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. That accounted for approximately 88 percent of total gold exports from Russia that year.
Russia was the seventh largest gold exporter worldwide in 2021.
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