WWW Irkutsk Newsletter

GOLD PRODUCTION IN IRKUTSK GOES UP TO TWELVE TONS

5 November 1999

IRKUTSK, November 4 (Itar-Tass) - Twelve tons of gold has been produced
in the Irkutsk region, marking the first time that gold production there has risen to
the level of 1917.

Deputy chairman of the Committee for land resources of the regional
administration, Alexander Belyaev, told Itar-Tass on Thursday that gold
production there had been higher only in 1915. "However, I think that the
record gold production reported in 1915 will soon be history
because the gold prospecting season will continue throughout November. 
Besides, there is a gold processing enterprise located in the
Bodaibinsky region whose production cycle continues year-round,"
Belyaev said.

The Bodaibinsky region, located in a river basin between the Lena and
Vitima rivers, remains the main gold deposit in the region, just as it was at the
beginning of this century. Besides the "Lenzoloto" joint stock society, other
gold prospecting companies have been successfully working there.
Gold has also been prospected for in the neighboring Mamsko-Chuisky
region and in highland areas in the east of the Sajany mountains and the
Baikal mountain ridge.

Source: ere/ast Itar-TASS