Svetlana Panfilova, Deputy Governor and Minister of Arctic Development and Economy of the Murmansk Region, presented investment projects in the region aimed at achieving the indicators of national projects to ensure technological leadership.
The report was presented at the session of the 30th International Forum-Exhibition "Russian Industrialist", which is currently taking place in St. Petersburg.
The list includes projects for the construction of the Kola NPP-2, the modernization of the Lovozersky GOK, the development of lithium deposits on the Kola Peninsula, as well as the development of unmanned systems.
— All these projects have a common goal — to ensure the technological sovereignty of the country. Energy, rare earth raw materials, lithium, and unmanned systems are industries in which we have a ready base: production, human resources, and scientific,— Svetlana Panfilova noted. — The Murmansk Region is a key participant in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. We continue to steadily develop the region's economy. In 2019-2024, GRP per inhabitant increased 2.3 times. And the volume of investments in fixed assets from all sources over the past seven years has amounted to about 1.8 trillion rubles.
Thus, Lovozersky GOK is the only enterprise in Russia that produces loparite concentrate on an industrial scale. For further processing, the plant's products are sent to the Perm Region, to JSC Solikamsk Magnesium Plant.
A large-scale modernization program was launched at the plant after joining the Rosatom State Corporation in 2023. The aim of the project is to increase output from 6.3 to 11.02 thousand tons per year and to ensure the supply of raw materials for subsequent processing of import—substituting products based on rare and rare earth metals. In the first year of implementation, in 2025, more than 800 million rubles have already been invested in the development of the plant. In 2026 alone, the company plans to invest about 1 billion rubles in the modernization program. In total, more than 7 billion rubles of capital expenditures are planned within the framework of the project.
The main technological equipment has been purchased and put into operation at the enterprise. The mine's electric locomotive and wagon fleet, mining machinery and equipment, ventilation and pumping systems have been updated, robotic equipment with attachments has been purchased, and energy supply equipment has been updated. The pumping station, crushing and crushing equipment, gravity equipment — screens and a complex of screw separators have been replaced at the processing plant.
Today, Lovozersky GOK is one of the participants in the industrial cluster "Industrial Cluster of Rare and Rare Earth Metals", included in the register of industrial clusters by order of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia. The company actively uses government support measures. For example, under an agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, LGOK has the right to provide subsidies to compensate for lost revenue when selling loparite concentrate at a 30% discount. This is the first time such a mechanism has been used in the rare and rare earth metals industry.
Photo: Lovozersky GOK and the Directorate of the Russian Industrialist Forum
/Ministry of Arctic Development and Economy of the Murmansk Region/