On July 1, 2025, amendments to the legislation on subsurface resources entered into force, providing for a mechanism for the joint use of subsurface resources during regional work for subsurface users and state budgetary institutions. The innovations are aimed at increasing the efficiency of the development of Russia’s mineral resource base and expanding opportunities for large companies to develop remote and poorly explored territories.
In December 2024, Rosnedra approved a list of subsurface areas (with the exception of federal and local significance) for regional geological exploration at the expense of the federal budget and/or its own and attracted funds from subsurface users for 2025 and the planning period 2026-2027. The list includes 7 promising areas for medium-scale (1:200,000) geological survey work — geological exploration (GDP200) and the creation of geochemical foundations (GCO200).
These sites are located in the Arkhangelsk Region, the Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk Territories, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Kamchatka Territory and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug — all of them are located within the Far Eastern Federal District or the Arctic Zone of Russia. This underlines the high interest of large subsurface users in the development of poorly studied regions of the country and the development of the mineral resource base.
The areas are promising for identifying deposits of gold, silver, copper, molybdenum and diamonds. 7 applications have been submitted for participation in the work from leading Russian mining companies: Alrosa (diamonds), Polyus (gold, silver, copper), Nordgold (gold), AGD-Diamonds (diamonds), Zvezda Sibir (gold, silver, copper). The work will be carried out jointly with institutions subordinate to Rosnedra: the Karpinsky Institute (5 GDP200 squares) and the IMGRE Federal State Budgetary Institution (2 GHO200 squares). The total amount of financing for regional work from the own funds of subsurface users will amount to at least 1.1 billion rubles over three years.
On June 11, 2025, the Rosnedra Commission approved all applications received, and licenses were issued to subsurface users. Field exploration work will begin on all areas this year.
In 2026-2028, it is planned to continue developing the mechanism of joint use of subsurface resources for regional work. Rosnedra is preparing a new list of sites for geological exploration at the expense of the federal budget and funds from subsurface users for 2026 and the planning period 2027-2028.