Prostranstvennaâ Èkonomika (Jun 2023)
Russia’s Gold Mining Industry: Sanctions Shocks
Abstract
The deliberate fragmentation of the world market as a result of the establishment of a global sanctions regime provoked a complete transition of both the Russian and the entire world economy to non-stationary modes of operation, one of the fundamental features of which are the deformations of the global monetary and financial system, which only two years ago seemed to have no alternative to the one based on the US dollar. One of the consequences of these events is the objective strengthening of the role of gold as the basis for the stability of national reserves and a single base in the transition to a plurality of global means of payment. The only source of replenishing gold reserves is gold mining, especially for modern Russia, which Western sanctions have effectively cut off from the world trade in gold. Russia has traditionally been one of the world leaders in terms of gold reserves and resources, ranking third in world production. Gold production in Russia increased by a factor of 1.5 in 2012–2021, facilitated by the growth rate of the Russian gold price relative to the global price due to the rise in the dollar exchange rate after 2014. At the same time, the share of gold in Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves is three times smaller than that of developed countries. This article discusses the problems of production localised in the regions of the Russian Far East and Siberia, its impact on the socio-economic development of these regions and the role of gold in the country’s economy. The impact of sanctions on the circulation of precious metals, including gold, is assessed. The authors assess the effects of external sanctions and the macroeconomic policy of the Russian Central Bank in terms of replenishing gold reserves and the volatility of the Russian ruble on gold production, the structure of gold consumption, and the economic situation in the gold mining industry
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