Kozlov announced the start of lithium mining in the Murmansk region in 2026.

Pilot production of lithium at the Polmostundrovskoye deposit in the Murmansk region will begin, according to the plan, in 2026. This was stated on May 30 by the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Alexander Kozlov in an interview with TASS.

"As for forecasts for lithium production in 2026, its pilot production is planned at the Polmostundrovskoye field, also located on the Kola Peninsula. It will be carried out within the framework of geological exploration carried out by the subsurface user," the head of the department said.

The agency's interlocutor stressed that full-scale industrial production of this chemical element in the country has not yet begun. Now, he added, preparations are underway to launch the relevant processes.

According to the minister's expectations, the Kolmozersky deposit, discovered in 1947, will be the first object of industrial exploitation, where, in addition to lithium and ore, there are also concentrations of beryllium, niobium and tantalum.

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On March 31, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev, speaking at a meeting of the board of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use, outlined priorities for further development in this area. According to him, Russia already holds a leading position in the extraction of diamonds, platinum group metals, gold and potash salts. In the future, he said, it also needs to make efforts to provide domestic markets with raw materials.

On April 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin, congratulating Russian geologists and veterans from this field on their professional holiday, announced that 41 oil and gas condensate fields and 276 deposits of solid minerals had been discovered in Russia over the past year alone.