Shoigu declared Russia's leadership in reserves of rare earth metals

Russia is one of the leaders in reserves of rare earth metals in the world. This was announced to TASS on April 25 by the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu.

"Russia is one of the world leaders in rare earth metal reserves, located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk Region, and Tuva, among others," he said.

At the same time, Shoigu clarified that at the moment there are no production facilities in the country that allow for final products.

"We export these metals annually for about $7.2-7.6 billion, and we buy back goods from the same metals for $75 billion. This is about 4% of GDP," he said.

According to the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, such domestic production facilities can be located in the regions of Siberia, where there are hydropower resources that allow for the extraction of raw materials and the production of high-tech products, including in the field of electronics, electrical engineering, as well as oil and gas chemistry and the timber industry.

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About 70 joint projects in the field of natural resources development are at the initial stage.

On April 9, Dmitry Patrushev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, stated that the Siberian Federal District (SFD) is of strategic importance for strengthening Russia's industrial potential. According to him, there are huge reserves of natural resources, including precious metals, copper, nickel, coal, oil, and gas.

Earlier, in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to consider the development of rare and rare earth metals in the country. He noted that this area is the most important resource base of the modern economy, as well as in creating the infrastructure of the digital economy in many industries.