On May 21, Natalia Komarova, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management, held a round table discussion on “Topical issues of the development of the mineral resource complex of the Russian Federation.”
The senator noted that deposits of almost all minerals known on Earth have been identified on the territory of the Russian Federation, including the continental shelf. Russia is among the leaders in terms of reserves of certain of them, such as oil, natural gas, coal, alkali ores, nickel, copper, gold, and silver.
At the same time, import dependence remains in the sectors of dozens of strategically and critically important types of raw materials. There are not enough specialists, as well as urgently needed new methods and technologies for forecasting and evaluating potential resources at all stages of geological exploration, mining, enrichment, and the creation of materials for final products.
The parliamentarian added that there is an increasing activity in the world of subsurface use in the Arctic, the World Ocean, and Antarctica. It is absolutely obvious that the goals, objectives, organizational structure in the industry and the state policy for the development of the mineral resource complex need to be updated.
Evgeny Tanin, Director of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Field of Geology and Subsoil Use at the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, noted that this topic is fundamentally important, first of all, from the point of view of the country’s economic security. The Ministry of Natural Resources, Rosnedra and other executive authorities pay special attention to it.
He informed that 61 types of strategic mineral raw materials have been identified, which are critically important for the country’s economy, both in terms of providing Russian industry and export potential. These types of activities mainly affect the military-industrial complex, aerospace, medical industry, chemical industry and other industries.
The discussion was attended by senators of the Russian Federation, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation, JSC Rosgeologiya, industrial enterprises, and the expert community.
The round table was attended by representatives of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation on Precious Metals and Precious Stones.
Tatyana Bashlykova, a member of the Committee, Director of the Scientific and Innovation Enterprise Center for Expert Systems of Technological Audit of Subsurface Use, spoke about the possibilities of attracting domestic technological resources to the operational solution of the tasks of developing the mineral resource complex of the Russian Federation and ensuring the country’s raw material security and technological sovereignty in subsurface use.
According to Tatiana Bashlykova, Russian processing technologists, having historically worked with complex, complex, and difficult-to-enrich mineral raw materials, have gained a wealth of experience and have methodological developments that make it possible to justify a rational set of solutions for involving any solid minerals, even those not enriched by traditional methods, in industrial processing, as well as for the deep utilization of man-made formations of mineral composition. Regulatory and legal support is needed for domestic developments that are already ready for implementation, many of which have surpassed the global level.
Viktor Tarakanovsky, Chairman of the Council of the Union of Prospectors of Russia, in his speech touched upon the problems of financing enterprises necessary for the development of mining projects; the development of man-made placers; accounting for mineral raw materials and products of mining entities in the GIIS DMDK; personnel problems of placer gold mining and other issues.
Based on the results of the round table, recommendations will be prepared to relevant executive authorities aimed at effectively addressing the issues raised.
Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation on Precious
Metals and Precious Stones