The eastern sector of the land territories at Russia’s Arctic zone has not been explored in detail economically. The main mineral resources are diamonds (both traditional and found in meteorites), gold, and polymetals.
So far, oil and gas resources have been found in the continental shelf of the Sea of Okhotsk; the shelf of other seas of the Arctic remains to be explored.
A distinctive feature of the mineral potential in the eastern area is its focus on and intention to satisfy the growing needs of a modern high-tech economy. Diamonds (especially meteoritic origin ones which have outstanding characteristics) can serve as raw material to produce high-strength and precision tools. As for rare earth elements, they are now in higher and higher demand in many sectors of modern industry.
The explored deposits have two main characteristics: their exceptional combination of between large scale and good quality of mineral resources, and their location in poorly developed areas, both economy- and transportation-wise.
Almazy Anabara
In the northwestern part of Yakutia, in Anabarsky and Olenyoksky Districts, the mining industry is rapidly developing. The Anabarsky mining and concentration complex ALROSA, OJSC Almazy Anabara, and OJSC Nizhne-Lenskoye are working in the alluvial diamond deposits, and Nordvik LLC is operating in the Yuzhno-Tigyanskoye oil field.
The main focus is the development of alluvial diamond deposits.
Almazy Anabara (ALROSA’s wholly owned subsidiary) conducts mining operations in the Mayat and Morgogor alluvial diamond deposits.
In 2102, the company produced 2,408 thousand carats of diamonds worth 161.8 million USD (the share of the company from the total diamond production of the ALROSA group in 2012 amounted to 7%). By early 2012, the company had accumulated 45.7 million tons of ore or 36.5 million carats of diamonds.30
Rare Earth Metals of the Tomtor Field
One of the largest deposits of rare earth metals is the Tomtor field, which is located in the northwestern part of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). The field is distinctive in its high concentration of minerals. There are 18 types of them, starting from conventional minerals (iron, phosphorus, titanium, vanadium) and ending with rather exotic elements (holmium, ytterbium, and lutetium). The State Register of Reserves lists 10 elements in the Tomtor field, each of which forms an industrial concentration. This deposit in Yakutia is a world leader in the number of unique compounds of niobium with rare earth elements.31 The Tomtor field is known for its rare elements: niobium, yttrium, scandium and lanthanide group. At current demand levels, reserves of rare elements in the deposit can satisfy the needs of Russia (and those of the world, under certain conditions) for hundreds of years.32
On May 28, 2014, a joint venture of the state corporation Rostech (formerly known as Rostekhnologya) and the EAST Group won a tender to
develop the Tomtor field in Yakutia, one of the world’s largest deposits of rare earth metals. Rostech and the EAST Group agreed to invest 1 billion USD in rare earth metal production in the next five years (until 2018). The Tomtor field is one of the largest ore deposits in the world, with estimated resources of 154 million tons.33
Impact (Meteorite Origin) Diamonds of the Popigai Crater
Recent decades have seen the discovery of previously unknown types of diamond bedrock. In the early 1970s in the northern part of the Siberian platform, geologists discovered impactites occurring within the Popigai astrobleme lying in the eastern part of the Taymyr Peninsula and the northwestern part of Yakutia. Reserves of impact diamonds there greatly exceed those of the world’s best-known diamondiferous deposits. In the bedrock of the Popigai crater, alluvial deposits of micropolycrystal diamonds also have been found. Impact diamonds, or lonsdaleites, belong to a new, previously unknown type of technical rough diamonds which are not well enough known for industrial development or use.
Gold and Polymetals of Northeastern Russia
The northwestern part of Russia’s Arctic land territories, namely Magadan Oblast and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, possesses significant resources of precious (primarily gold) and nonferrous metals. A distinctive feature of the region is a high degree of resource base development.
Magadan Oblast. The most successful projects in gold mining are those executed by the Kinross Gold Corporation of Canada. The company has been operating in Russia since 1995. It is the leading foreign investor in the gold mining industry, the leading Canadian investor in the Russian economy, and one of the largest taxpayers in the Russian Far East. Kinross Gold holds 100% of shares of the OJSC Chukotskaya Mining and Geological Company, which is developing the Kupol mine in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Since the company launched production in 2008, total production levels have reached about 3 million gold equivalent ounces. In 2010, the company acquired 100% ownership of Severnoye Zoloto LLC and Regionruda LLC, which are developing the Dvoinoye deposit and the Vodorazdelnaya property located 100 km to the north of the Kupol mine.
The total investment amount exceeded 3 billion USD.34
Companies in Magadan Oblast are considering cooperating with the companies of other countries, including China. In September 2013, the Administration of Magadan Oblast and China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd. (NFC in short) signed a co-investment agreement.
The agreement stipulates the terms and conditions of cooperation within an investment project on the Kunarev mine development in the Srednekansky District in Kolyma. Its resources are estimated to be 14,200 tons of silver, 4,200 tons of zinc, 605,000 tons of lead and 1.3 million tons of copper.35
As we can see from the examples above, Russia’s Arctic zone shows relatively high levels of investment activity. The companies of the region implement projects aimed to upgrade previously launched oil and gas objects and projects intended to explore new sources of raw materials and energy.