Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev spoke at a meeting of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use. The event summed up the results of the agency’s work in 2024 and outlined plans for 2025.
“Our country has a unique mineral resource base, including about 230 types of minerals. Thanks to this, the Russian Federation is among the world leaders in reserves of natural gas, diamonds, gold, nickel, coal and other resources. Raw material extraction is one of the leading areas of our economy. It forms a third of the consolidated budget revenues and allows industry to develop sustainably,” said Dmitry Patrushev.
The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the main task of Rosnedra is to ensure effective management of the state subsoil fund. At present, the federal agency administers almost 24 thousand licenses for prospecting, exploration and production of minerals.
“The most important thing is to ensure control over the quality of license execution. Rosnedra must ensure the continuity of exploration and prospecting, since the timely replenishment and sufficiency of reserves for the needs of the economy depend on this. The state creates conditions for attracting investment in geological exploration of the subsoil. In 2024, a record amount was allocated for exploration – more than 450 billion rubles,” Dmitry Patrushev emphasized.
Due to the influx of investment from businesses in the last 10 years, there has been a significant increase in reserves of the most popular types of minerals, including gold, copper, iron and oil. Large deposits have been explored, including deposits of rare and rare earth metals.
At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister set the task of ensuring a search reserve for scarce types of minerals. To this end, the Government plans to allocate more than 50 billion rubles for geological exploration in the next three years.
Dmitry Patrushev drew attention to the need to involve only qualified and experienced companies in the study and development of subsoil resources.
“We must not forget about increasing the responsibility of subsoil users themselves, including by preventing the emergence of so-called dormant licenses. Their list includes deposits of scarce raw materials. This must be corrected at the interdepartmental level, including involving supervisory authorities. In the near future, each such license must be analyzed. In this case, resources are idle, although they should bring profit. If an entrepreneur is not ready to develop a project, the right of use must be terminated, and the site must be transferred to a bona fide company,” said Dmitry Patrushev.
The Deputy Prime Minister also stressed that measures of economic stimulation of business are also necessary. Subsoil users should be interested in high-quality development of deposits, and payments for use should correspond to the value of the deposits.
Dmitry Patrushev placed special emphasis on the President’s order to form chains for the search and development of mineral deposits in the Arctic. In particular, it is necessary to ensure the extraction and deep processing of rare and rare earth metals in this zone.
The Deputy Prime Minister also noted the need to attract young, highly qualified specialists to the industry. According to him, at the level of higher and secondary vocational education, great emphasis should be placed from the very start on practical training and the development of targeted training.
In conclusion, Dmitry Patrushev added that the implementation of the Strategy for the Development of the Mineral Resource Base until 2050 largely depends on the high-quality solution of all the tasks outlined. Its key task is to ensure the accelerated growth of mineral reserves, which will guarantee the country resource independence.
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