Eugene Gerden reports that Russia plans to end imports of rare earths by 2020, and fully provide its own needs by domestic production, according to an official spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. This is expected to be achieved thanks to the beginning of development of the Tomtorsky rare earth element (REE), field in Yakutsk, a territory of Russia, located in the far eastern region of the country, as well as other REE fields. In the case of Tomtorsky field, so far, exploratory and drilling works have already started on the Burannoey section of the field with the aim of evaluating its geological, morphological, qualitative and quantitative characteristics. After these developments the government plans to receive data, regarding the estimated reserves of niobium, yttrium, scandium and other rare earths.
The state plans the building of the infrastructure for the project (and in particular a new large-scale mining and processing works) during the period of 2018-2020. By this time, the first ore from the field will be produced, which will allow them to stop further imports of rare earths into Russia. In May 2014, the venture won a tender for the development of the Tomtorsky REE field. At the initial stage, the company plans to focus on the development of the Burannoey section of the field, where reserves are estimated at 20 million tonnes of ore, valued at US8 billion dollars, with later development of the others. Operational lifetime of Burannoey is estimated at 40-50 years. The volume of investments in the project is estimated at 145 billion rubles (US4.5 billion dollars). Successful implementation will make Russia one of the largest producers and exporters of rare earth metals in the world. During Soviet times, the production of rare earth metals in the country was at the level of 8,500 tonnes per year. Production took place in more than 30 regions of the USSR.
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