Major gold producer Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) said it remained on track to produce of 680,000-700,000 ounces of yellow metal for 2015, despite a deal to hive off its stake in stake in gold-mining company Koboldo for around US$18.7mln.
The producing assets held by Koboldo in the Amur region in the Russian Far East are considered "non-core" due to relatively high costs and low gold production output.
As at June 30 last year, Koboldo had gross assets of around US$43.6 million and profit before tax in 2013 was around US$0.2 million.
Petropavlovsk subsidiary Peter Hambro Mining (Cyprus) has entered a conditional Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) over the sale of its 95.7% interest with Global-Polymetall LLC.
"The successful disposal of Koboldo will allow Petropavlovsk to further decrease its net debt position and reduce non-core holdings," it said in the London statement.
"Our focus remains the development of the group's highly-prospective, hard-rock mines in the Amur Region.
Koboldo's total 2014 annual production was 29,100ounces, representing approximately 5% of the group’s total attributable gold production for 2014.