Nordgold NV is looking into emerging markets for potential mining acquisitions as it seeks to increase its overall mineral reserves in the next four years with an $800 million budget spending to boot.

According to Nikolai Zelensky, Nordgold NV chief executive, the company has been actively searching in "early greenfields" locations to support their growth allocation plans.

"We are mostly interested in high-quality deposits in emerging markets such as Russia, Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia," Zelensky said in Bloomberg News. Potentials in the United States, Canada and South Africa have unfortunately been delisted off from their list as "it is hard to find good assets at attractive prices."

"While existing reserves are sufficient to ensure future output, organic growth is only the base case," the Nordgold NV chief executive said.

The gold miner, with an $800 million fund it plans to invest through 2015, seeks to jack up mineral reserves from an existing 8.2 million ounces as well as improve output by 60 per cent to 1.2 million ounces.

Of the total figure, $470 million will be spent on construction at new mines and geological studies, time lined for this year, where production for 2012 has been pegged to hit 850,000 ounces, up by 13 per cent from 754,000 ounces last year.

Mr Zelensky forecasts that in 2013, more than 63 per cent of Nordgold NV's gold output may come from outside Russia, compared with 2011 where overseas investments contributed 57 per cent to the company's overall output.

"We are absolutely confident in all our overseas investments, and we have good working relations with all of the governments," Mr Zelensky said.

Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov created Nordgold NV via its steel mining firm Severstal by purchasing gold assets in Russia, Kazakhstan and Africa. Nordgold NV is listed in the London Stock Exchange. Its largest mine is located Guinea.

"We don't have an immediate goal to become a top 10 company, but we don't rule out any large merger in the future," Mr Zelensky said.