MOSCOW - RUSSIAN gold production rose 12.2 per cent year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2009, mainly due to the launch of large projects in its far east, the Russian Gold Industrialists' Union said on Friday.

The union, which is the main industry lobby, said in a statement gold output by the world's No. 5 miner of the precious metal totalled 171.2 tonnes in January-October compared with 152.5 tonnes in the same period a year ago.

October gold output from mines and placers declined by nearly 4.17 tonnes from the same month a year ago, but a rise of volumes refined as a by-product of other metals cut the total decline to 1.87 tonnes.

Output of placers declined by 1.2 tonnes in the first 10 months of this year, the union said without providing mines and placers output breakdown.

Output of gold produced as a by-product of other metals rose 28.8 per cent to 12.94 tonnes in the first nine months of this year and output achieved by refining gold from scrap rose 3 per cent to 6.15 tonnes.

Russia produced about 8 per cent of the world's gold last year and plans to significantly increase this share by developing its reserves that are second only to South Africa's. It aims to produce 205 tonnes of gold this year, up 11.1 per cent year-on-year.