Page 21 - Журнал Sozvezdye Review - «СОЗВЕЗДИЕ» #40

According to the estimates of RF Ministry of Nat- ber forty-nine. The majority (26) of
ural Resources (“The Strategy for the Development them are metal mines – different
of Mineral Resources of the Russian Federation un- types of ores and precious metals.
til 2035”, enacted by the RF Government Resolution An important role in the de-
No. 2914-p dd. December 22, 2018), the current re- velopment of the Russian Arctic’s
serves of metal minerals are unlikely to keep the in- minerals belongs to “new genera-
dustries going until 2035, forcing them to import feed- tion metals”. These include, among
stock from abroad. The current metal mining projects others, rare earth metals, iridium
are concentrated in the western and the eastern parts and palladium, which, given the
of the Arctic Zone. Geologically, the central Russian changing economic conditions,
Arctic holds oil and gas provinces with thick sedimen- seem to be in high demand but are
tary cover – Timan-Pechora Province (Nenets Auton- classified as “minor metals” due to
omous Okrug and Komi Republic) and West Siberian their small share in the total car-
Province (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) are lo- go traffic. At the same time, metal
cated in the central part of the Arctic zone. ores are much costlier to transport
The conclusion made in 2020 by the National than oil, LNG and coal, the latter
Minerals Research Institute (VIMS) is that the Arc- being what the Northern Sea Route
tic Zone holds vast reserves of a wide array of metals, generally relies on.
many of which are characterized as strategically im- In the context of the energy tran-
portant. sition, the Arctic is likely to become
Currently, the Arctic mining projects (ongoing, increasingly “metallic”. While ma-
currently in construction, announced, planned) num- rine transport of ores will be much

Доля запасов и добычи
металлов в АЗРФ
Share of reserves and mining
of metals in the Arctic Zone

SOZVEZDYE #40

ресурсы
resources

Text: Mikhail Grigoriev – Director
at Gekon, member of RAS Council
for Arctic and Antarctic Studies,
member of the Russian Ministry
of Natural Resources Research 19
and Engineering Boardr