The extraction of rare earth metals in Russia is in an active phase: the reserves of such minerals in the country reach 28 million tons. Denis Manturov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, told about this in an interview with the Vesti information service.
According to him, the key task today is not just to develop deposits, but to obtain the most ready-made final product from the line of rare earth metals.
"We have now focused our attention on getting the most ready-made final product from the line of rare earth metals while developing the deposit. And the group of chemical elements in this category includes about 17. And we have almost the entire range of these metals," Denis Manturov emphasized.
Among the key mining regions of the country, the First Deputy Prime Minister singled out the Murmansk Region, noting its significant industrial potential in the field of REM. The region has a significant mineral resource base and a well‑developed infrastructure for the development of strategically important deposits.
"The Murmansk Region is a mineralogical treasure trove of Russia. We account for about 70% of Russia's rare earth reserves. The region already has a backbone enterprise in the industry – Lovozersky GOK, the country's only producer of loparite concentrate, and among the new growth points are the Alluive, Afrikandovskoye and others fields. Industrial development and investor interest are largely the result of the conditions that we have created for business: there are two preferential regimes in the region, the Capital of the Arctic and the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the development of rare earths is also a matter of strategic security. They are critically important for the defense industry and high technologies, and dependence on imports is unacceptable here. And given that the number of supplier countries is limited, our reserves are of significant interest to the global market," said Andrey Chibis, Governor of the Murmansk Region.
The powerful industrial and investment potential of the Kola Arctic is supported not only by a unique mineral resource base, but also by a rapidly growing transport infrastructure. Thus, the development of the Murmansk transport hub with an ice-free port provides potential shippers with direct access to the Northern Sea Route and opens up access to international markets.
/Ministry of Arctic Development and Economy of the Murmansk Region/