Russian gold miner Polyus sees lower capex in 2018 and 2019
06/09/2017 10:30
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Russia's top gold
producer Polyus PLZL.MM expects its capital expenditure
(capex) to decline over the next two years from around $800
million in 2017 as ramp up costs for a new gold mine fall away,
Chief Executive Pavel Grachev said.
Polyus, controlled by the family of Russian tycoon Suleiman
Kerimov, started commissioning its Natalka mine in the country's
Far East, a project expected to help the firm increase its gold
output by a third by 2019, on Tuesday. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1LM2WK
The company's capex will decline significantly in 2019
compared with 2018 and will also be lower in 2018 than in 2017,
Grachev said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of
the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
He declined to give numbers.
Ramping-up construction at Natalka was the main reason for
the 73 percent increase in capex to $322 million in the first
half of 2017, the firm has said. In total, Polyus has spent $2.3
billion on the Natalka project. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1L00HH
Grachev also said the recent bail-out of Russia's Otkritie
Bank OFCB.MM by Russia's central bank was unlikely to change
Otkritie's operations in the domestic precious metals market.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1LM3FE
Russian gold producers usually sell their product to Russian
banks which then sell it to the central bank or export it. The
biggest players in this market are Russia's two largest lenders
- Sberbank SBER.MM and VTB VTBR.MM .
Otkritie has a significantly smaller share in the gold
market, Grachev said, adding Polyus planned to continue working
with it.
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Writing by Polina Devitt;
Editing by Mark Potter)
((Polina.Devitt@thomsonreuters.com; +7 495 775 12 42; Reuters
Messaging: polina.devitt.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: RUSSIA FAREAST/FORUM POLYUS