February 26, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited American government agencies and companies to engage in joint projects for the mining of rare earth metals. Russia has 20% of the reserves of such raw materials, while there is practically no extraction and processing due to a lack of technology and a stable sales market. In addition, the president proposed to resume the supply of Russian aluminum to the American market, which is preparing for higher prices for this metal due to new duties, and also to think about joint work between the Russian Federation and the United States on aluminum production, for example, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Investments in such a project could amount to $15 billion.

Russia is ready to offer American government agencies and companies cooperation in projects for the extraction of rare earth metals, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the evening of February 24. A transcript of his interview has been published on the Kremlin's website. As Mr. Putin noted, Russia has "an order of magnitude more resources of this kind than in Ukraine." At the same time, he added, these are quite capital-intensive investments.

On the same day, Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the development of the rare earth metals industry, where he said that the Russian Federation would have to establish a full cycle of the rare and rare earth metals industry, ensure their extraction and processing, up to the production of finished high-tech goods.

On February 24, US President Donald Trump also said that the United States was interested in Russia's "huge reserves" of rare earth metals and other valuable resources. As reported by Mr. Trump, he is discussing "major deals" on economic development with Vladimir Putin.

The group of rare earth metals includes 17 chemical elements, including lanthanides, scandium and yttrium. They are called rare earths for their small reserves in the world - a "rare" occurrence in the bowels. All of them are characterized by refractory properties, and their oxides do not dissolve in water. Today, the demand for rare earth metals is growing all over the world against the background of their use in radio electronics, nuclear, machine-building, metallurgy, chemical, petrochemical, glass and defense industries. According to a study by Verified Market Research (VMR), the global rare earth metals market could more than double to $10.78 billion by 2030. Research and Markets forecasts market growth from $7.62 billion in 2024 to $9.38 billion in 2028.

China accounts for about 60% of the world's reserves of rare earth metals and about 15% of their global production. According to Rosnedra, Russia's reserves of rare earth metals for 2024 were estimated at 28.7 million tons at 18 explored deposits. This is 20% of the world's reserves. However, Russia's mining share in the global market does not exceed 1%, and there is practically no processing of such metals in the country.

As relevant departments and experts have repeatedly explained, in addition to large capital expenditures already at the early stages of the implementation of such projects, there are no industrially proven technologies for processing raw materials in the Russian Federation, and deposits are remote from infrastructure facilities. Companies are also afraid of unclear prospects for demand for these metals, and, consequently, the risks of freezing huge investments. So far, interest in the industry has been limited almost exclusively to state-owned companies.

Most of the major rare earth projects are currently frozen. Among them is the Tomtorskoye niobium and rare earth metals deposit (owned by the managers of the Alexander Nesis EAST Group) in Yakutia, which has a preliminary reserve estimate of 11.4 million tons of ore containing 0.7 million tons of niobium oxide and 1.7 million tons of rare earth oxides.

The Ak-Sugsky subsurface area in Tuva has balance reserves of 78 thousand tons of molybdenum and 83.3 tons of rhenium. The asset belonged to Mikhail Prokhorov's Intergeo structure, but in 2024 Rosnedra decided to revoke the company's license due to a violation of the infrastructure construction deadline. At the end of last year, PROMISING MINING PROJECTS JSC (Rostec's structure) received the right to use the subsoil for the purpose of exploration and mining of minerals.

To create a project for the development of the Pavlovsky lead-zinc deposit in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the First Mining Company (part of Atomredmedzoloto, renamed Rosatom Nedra, the mining division of Rosatom) concluded memoranda with the Chinese NFC and Pauerite Limited "on determining general conditions and intentions for further implementation." The document was signed in March 2024, but so far the details of the project have not been reported.

Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the United States may not be limited to rare earth metals, follows from an interview with Vladimir Putin. He noted that if the United States opens its aluminum market, Russia could supply 2 million tons of this metal per year, which would help keep prices down.

Mr. Putin also suggested thinking about joint work between the Russian Federation and the United States on aluminum production, for example, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Investments in such a project could amount to $15 billion.

Source: www.kommersant.ru/doc/7534002