Natural resources ministry says Russia’s deposits are virtually infinite

Mineral reserves in Russia will never run out, the head of the country’s Ministry of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov said on Monday.

“We have one of the richest countries in terms of minerals; reserves will never run out. […] We have geological reserves, recoverable reserves, and profitable reserves – the category of reserves that are now economically viable to extract,” Kozlov told Izvestia newspaper. He noted that Russia currently has over 300 so-called profitable reserves, which constitute resources used by domestic industries. Meanwhile, many other reserves lie dormant, so to speak, waiting for the need for them to be extracted to arise depending on their profitability.  

Kozlov stressed that Russia holds one of the leading positions in oil and gas production and in a number of solid minerals extraction, including gold, silver, and copper. According to the official, Russia’s Far East, Siberia, and the Arctic have the greatest potential for future extraction of reserves, including such crucial commodities as oil, gas, gold, silver, lead, zinc, and antimony.

Read more

“This is primarily due to [the regions’] enormous potential for identifying new large deposits,” he specified.

According to the minister, some 50 new hydrocarbon deposits are discovered annually in Russia. The largest and most unique are located in the Arctic zone, including the Yakutia region. Kozlov said his ministry plans to “prepare at least seven promising areas for licensing” in the near future. He also revealed that the ministry expects an increase in volumes of reserves extracted in the months to come.

“If we talk about solid minerals, we expect an increase in reserves of about 350 tons for gold. The largest contribution will be made by the Yakutia, Transbaikalia, Irkutsk and Magadan regions. For silver – by 9,500 tons. Yakutia and the Trans-Baikal Territory are also leaders. Copper – about 350,000 tons,” Kozlov outlined.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section