Russia will never run out of its mineral resources as the country is successfully implementing programs to replenish resources depleted due to mining and even to increase them.
This was stated by Alexander Kozlov, the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia, in a recent interview with the Russian news agency Izvestia, who also said that Russia has one of the richest endowments of mineral resources worldwide.
He added that by 2030, the ministry expects an increase in Russia’s gold reserves by about 350 tonnes. The largest contribution will be made by Yakutia, Transbaikalia, Irkutsk and Magadan regions.
Mr. Kozlov continued he expects that the country’s silver reserves will be increased by 9.5 thousand tonnes by 2030, with major contributions from Yakutia and the Trans-Baikal Territory.
He also expects that the domestic copper reserves will grow by about 350 thousand tonnes, lead reserves – by about 700 thousand tonnes, and zinc reserves – by about 1.8 million tonnes.
According to the U.S. Library of Congress, Russia is one of the world’s richest countries in raw materials, many of which are significant inputs for an industrial economy.
Russia accounts for around 20 percent of the world’s production of oil and natural gas and possesses large reserves of both fuels. This abundance has made Russia virtually self-sufficient in energy and a large-scale exporter of fuels. Oil and gas were primary hard-currency earners for the Soviet Union, and they remain so for the Russian Federation.
Russia also is self-sufficient in nearly all major industrial raw materials and has at least some reserves of every industrially valuable nonfuel mineral, even after the productive mines of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan no longer were directly accessible.
Russia possesses rich reserves of iron ore, manganese, chromium, nickel, platinum, titanium, copper, tin, lead, tungsten, diamonds, phosphates, uranium, gold, and other mineral commodities.
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