Severstal wins two more Russian gold deposits

MOSCOW, March 13 (Reuters) - Russian miner Severstal (CHMF.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) (CHMFq.L: Quote, Profile, Research) continued its foray into gold on Thursday, paying 55.5 million roubles ($2.3 million) at auction to acquire two deposits in Siberia.

Severstal, better known for its steel production and coal mines, has been acquiring gold deposits since last year with a view to building and spinning off a new company. It has also acquired gold and molybdenum miner Celtic Resources.

Its subsidiary, Severnaya Zolotorudnaya Kompaniya, paid 39 million roubles on Thursday to win the rights to the Kunikan field and a further 16.5 million roubles for the Nerchenskaya field. Both fields are in the eastern Siberian region of Chita.

Severstal said in a statement the Kunikan field contained an estimated 15 tonnes of gold and the Nerchenskaya field 20 tonnes.

Benchmark U.S. gold futures hit the historic milestone of $1,000 an ounce on Thursday as a further slump in the dollar forced investors to look for alternative assets.

Russia produced 162.78 tonnes (5.23 million ounces) of gold last year, accounting for about 6.6 percent of global output. Output is set to rise significantly by 2015 as several large new projects come on stream. (Reporting by Robin Paxton, editing by David Evans)