Bank ROSSIYA and MARDUK have signed an agreement on the development of the precious metals market

Bank ROSSIYA and MARDUK have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at developing the market of precious, non-ferrous, and rare earth metals in the Russian Federation. The signing, which was attended by Alexander Shalenkov, Deputy Chairman of the bank's Management Board, and Alexey Gavrilov, President of MARDUK, took place on June 18 as part of the strategic session "Investment Solutions in the Markets of Precious, Non-ferrous, and Rare Earth Metals in Russia" at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2025).

The stratesession was attended by the heads of Bank ROSSIYA, and the moderator was the BRICS International Association of Precious, Non-Ferrous, Rare Earth Metals and Precious Stones (MARDUK). It discussed the market situation, the most effective ways to attract capital, investment decisions in the development of companies in the mining sector and the formation of a sustainable competitive advantage in the domestic precious metals industry.

The event was also attended by Goldex, the fintech operator of the physical gold retail market, OKTO Group involved in coal and gold mining projects, Rosatom Nedra, the mining division of Rosatom State Corporation, the official coin dealer Zolotaya Plata, and the international gold mining company Nordgold.

"Gold is a strategic asset of the world's central banks, it has been showing tremendous and steady investment growth for the past three years. Today, it is important for us to have a dialogue with industry participants and consider promising projects. Thanks to today's strategic session, Bank ROSSIYA is strengthening its focus on the development of the precious, non—ferrous and rare earth metals market," said Shalenkov.

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Gavrilov noted that the Russian Federation has vast resources of precious, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, including significant deposits of gold, silver, platinum group metals, copper, aluminum, nickel and rare earth elements, which are in high demand among the leading sectors of the global economy.

"The activities of enterprises engaged in the extraction, processing and sale of these products form an essential component of foreign trade turnover, contribute to job creation and attract the interest of the largest foreign investor companies. Bank ROSSIYA's attention to the industry will open up new opportunities for market participants to implement significant projects," Gavrilov said.

Earlier, on the first day of SPIEF, Bank ROSSIYA and the Smolensk Region Investment Development Corporation signed a cooperation agreement that provides for the development of cooperation in the implementation of joint projects, including involving private investors.