By Ian Walker

Polyus PJSC on Wednesday reiterated its 2021 production target and said it expects to produce slightly more gold over the next two years, mainly from higher output from the Olimpiada mine.

The Russian gold miner expects to produce 2.7 million ounces of gold this year, compared with 2.8 million ounces in 2020. The fall is mainly due to a temporary drop in grades at Olimpiada, which will be partly offset by bottlenecking products, the company said.

Polyus expects to produce 2.8 million ounces of gold in 2022 and 2.9 million ounces in 2023.

The company also reiterated that capital expenditure this year is expected to be $1.0 billion to $1.1 billion, then $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion in 2022 and $1.0 billion to $1.1 billion in 2023.

"Polyus continues to advance on its development projects and focus on improving efficiency of its operations," Chief Executive Pavel Grachev said.

He added that the company has identified new growth options at Olimpiada and Kuranakh and is proceeding with brownfield initiatives at the Blagodatnoye and Natalka mines.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-23-21 0718ET