Fundamental Problems of Development of the Mineral-Resource Base of High-Tech Industry and Energy of Russia

Abstract

The problem of provision of the Russian high-tech industry with critical minerals is becoming more drastic every year due to the steady reduction of rich and relatively accessible deposits in technical and economic terms and the instability of its import delivery from producer countries due to political instability in the world. Domestic and global trends in the development of the mineral-resource base of high-tech industry and energy are shown. Having applied spatial statistics of geoinformational analysis, the maps of the locations of the main deposits and promising ore occurrences of high-tech metals (HTMs) in Russia were compiled. The degree of criticality of strategic and high-tech mineral raw materials for Russia was assessed. It is noted that the share of Russian HTM production in the world structure of their output is extremely small, despite the available reserves. Many domestic complex HTM-bearing deposits are not developed. Most HTMs necessary for the Russian industry are imported. The analysis has shown that Russia can increase the production of two HTM groups critical for green technologies—“battery” metals (Ni, Co, Li, Pt, Pd, Ro, and REE) and components for “photovoltaics” (Cd, Se, Te, Ge, Ga, and In). In recent years, the mineral-resource base of HTMs in Russia has been showing positive growth, and the development of a number of deposits is planned.