Vol 65, No 5 (2023)
- Year: 2023
- Articles: 9
- URL: https://journals.eco-vector.com/0016-7770/issue/view/11402
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0016-7770655
Full Issue
Articles
PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINERAL RESOURCE BASE OF THE HIGH-TECH INDUSTRY OF RUSSIA
Abstract
The article considers the problem of self-sufficiency of Russia with import-dependent types (including critical) of strategic mineral raw materials (SMRM). It is shown that in recent years, the Russian Government has been paying much attention to the development of the mineral resource base (MSB) of SMRM: in 2018, the Strategy for the Development of MSB of the Russian Federation until 2035 was approved, and in 2022, the updated List of the main types of SMRM was approved for the first time in 26 years. The article notes that SMRM self-sufficiency has been achieved for most of the items in the List. For 17 items on the List, the industry of the Russian Federation is highly dependent on imports, and for some items this dependence reaches 100%. Despite this, many domestic deposits of SMRM, critically dependent on imports, are not being developed, due to low profitability. The analysis carried out in the article showed that Russia can completely replace the import of mineral raw materials by developing its own SMRM. At the fastest pace, the supply of self-sufficiency can be achieved through the development of placer deposits, weathering crust and recycling
371-386
MINERAL POTENTIAL OF STRATEGICAL AND CRITICAL MINERAL RAW MATERIALS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH TECHNOLOGICAL INDUSTRY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Abstract
The paper briefly describes the state system of regional geological study of the subsoil, implemented by Rosnedra and VSEGEI, which provides an assessment of the country's mineral resource potential for strategic types of minerals. In 2022, VSEGEI completed the compilation of a set of digital monometal maps of distribution patterns and prediction of strategic and critical types of minerals in the Russian Federation at a scale of 1:2.5 M in GIS format. Reserves of these types of minerals were assessed based on the state accounting system, and an expert reassessment of inferred resources was carried out. As a result, regional predictive criteria concerning the localization of areas promising for the discovery of mineral deposits were developed. Recommendations were given on the organization of additional site appraisal-200/2 and (or) geological and mineragenic mapping-200 on specific nomenclature sheets, promising for exploration for strategic types of minerals
387-401
INNOVATIVE ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE PROCESSES FOR RECOVERY OF RARE AND RARE-EARTH ELEMENTS FROM COMPLEX ORES OF COMPLEX MATERIAL COMPOSITION
Abstract
Domestic and world tendencies of involvement in the processing of ores of rare and rare earth metals (REM) are shown. It is shown that the main direction of innovative activity is the development and application of modern breakthrough technologies for the complex processing of mineral raw materials with the production of high-quality products while minimizing environmental damage. The main deposits of rare and rare-earth metals are systematized from the standpoint of the content of the main components, concentrator minerals and the main enrichment methods. The main principal technological schemes of processing of some deposits of RM and REM in Russia (Lovozerskoe, Tomtorskoe, Afrikandskoe deposits) are given. The options for involving technogenic and off-balance raw materials in the processing in order to extract strategic metals are considered. It is substantiated that innovative environmentally friendly processes for the extraction of rare and rare earth metals from complex ores of complex material composition are being actively developed in Russia at present
402-415
RELATIONSHIP «RARE-EARTH METALS – ENERGY TRANSITION IN THE CONTEXT OF FULL CYCLE PROJECTS
Abstract
The article examines the development of the rare earth industry in Russia. Russia has a significant resource base of this type of mineral raw materials, but it does not fully use the existing potential. Russia exports semi-products of low processing, and imports goods containing rare earth elements with high added value. The key problem of the industry is the insignificant domestic demand for rare earth metals. The growing interest in the world in renewable energy sources makes new opportunities for the development of the Russian rare earth industry and gives a chance for the transition of the Russian economy to a new technological order. At the heart of the policy to create demand for rare earth products within the country, the authors propose to use a theoretic approach based on the consideration of full-cycle projects. Three main features characterize this approach. Firstly, our approach is an extension of the traditional project approach and takes into account not so much the local aspects of a separate project for the extraction and processing of ore, but its integration into the country's economy through a system of intersectoral interactions (multiplicative effects). Secondly, as the demand for products within the country grows and the scale of the use of products based on rare earth metals expands, the process of “learning” is launched - the costs of mining, processing and production of final products are reduced. Thirdly, the approach proposes to consider rare earth ores in dumps as pseudo-financial assets with the ability to manage them as traditional economic asset
416-427
GEOSTRATEGIC RISKS IN THE GREEN ENERGY TRANSITION (THE CASE OF AFRICA)
Abstract
The article analyzes the resource potential of Africa in terms of ensuring the transition of the world economy to green energy and identifies the geostrategic risks associated with this transition. The authors conclude that African countries today have significant reserves of metals necessary for this green energy transition. They are world leaders in reserves and production of bauxite, cobalt, chromium, platinoids and tantalum. Theу also possess copper, lithium, zinc and nickel ores in significant quantities. All other metals crucial for green energy technologies are also present on the continent. Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been main suppliers of germanium to the world market for a long time. Significant reserves of rare earth metals (yttrium) are in Nigeria, Morocco and Egypt, cadmium – in Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, gallium – in Guinea. In theory transition to green technologies may improve the situation of those African countries that possess high-tech materials through a sharp increase in demand and prices for these goods. In reality they may get under the most severe pressure from Western transnational corporations. These corporations will be using the entire arsenal of colonial tools to create favorable conditions to acquire these materials at the lowest cost. The authors think, if the energy transition and climate strategies proposed by the West are implemented, this burden to the greatest extent will be borne by those countries that historically participated least in the depletion of traditional energy sources and environmental pollution – the poorest countries of the world, mostly African countries. The scheme being pushed by the West will forever block the path to breakthrough economic development for African countries. They will be conserved technologically. They are trying to prepare the same fate for Russia
428-443
THE LITHIUM BOOM: LITHIUM SOURCES AND PROSPECTS FOR THE RUSSIAN LITHIUM INDUSTRY
Abstract
The explosive development of renewable energy in recent years is reshaping the geopolitical picture of the world. Solar panels and wind turbines have become the symbol of the new energy transition, while lithium-ion batteries have become its basis and the driver of development. It was lithium-ion batteries that made it possible to overcome the main problem of renewable energy - inconstancy and uncontrollability. The article highlights the lithium problem, the reasons for the volatility of lithium prices, the main sources of lithium and the difficulties of its production. In addition, the prospects of development of lithium industry in Russia and current domestic developments in lithium mining technology are considered
444-449
MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY OF RUSSIA AND ISOLATION OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE
Abstract
The tasks of ensuring the sustainable development of the nuclear energy industry in Russia are considered, which are aimed at solving the problems of the initial and final stages of the nuclear fuel cycle from the reproduction of the mineral resource base of uranium to the management of high-level liquid waste from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. An analysis was made of the trends in the development of the mineral resource base of uranium in connection with the predicted growth in electricity generation at nuclear power plants. Based on the example of the territory of southeastern Transbaikalia, within the framework of topical mineralogical studies, new approaches to the allocation and justification of prospecting areas are proposed based on models of mineral-forming systems of uranium deposits using Earth remote sensing data, GIS modeling and neural network technologies. A detailed analysis of trends in solving the problems of the final stages of the nuclear fuel cycle has been carried out. For isolation and subsequent disposal of the REE-actinide fraction of high-level waste, it is proposed to use phosphate glass ceramics with monazite
450-462
Critical and Strategic Minerals in the Russian Federation
Abstract
Global development and scientific and technological progress are intensifying the use of mineral
raw materials (MRMs)—the necessary basis for the production of high-tech products. The advanced producing countries of these products are in dire need of various raw materials, which are critical and, as a rule, are supplied from third countries. Strategic is a mineral raw material, which is of particular importance for ensuring the economic development of the country, its defense and security. Due to the complex structure of extraction, processing and consumption of raw materials, many of its types are in short supply. In the world literature, the concept of “deficient MRMs” in its content most closely corresponds to “critical MRMs,” that is, raw materials that are critically needed for industry and are characterized by a significant risk of their supplies. Most critical raw materials are needed for production promising high-tech industrial products and new materials and, in particular, for “green technologies” in connection with the course of decarbonization of the economy actively pursued by world powers. In the production of such products, the consumption of MRMs is growing rapidly, especially rare-earth elements (REEs), V, Li and platinum-group elements (PGEs). From the list of 61 kinds of MRMs that are strategic for Russia, the extraction of oil, gas, Cu, Au, PGEs, Ni, apatite ores, K salts, and diamonds (as well as nonlisted coals, Fe ores, Na salts, V, B ores, magnesite, and chrysotile asbestos) fully covers their current domestic consumption in the Russian Federation and the achieved level of export. U, Mn, and Cr ores; Zr; high-purity quartz raw materials (SiO2); bauxite (Al); graphite; fluorite and nonstrategic barite; kaolin; and bentonite are deficient; their exploitation only partially provides domestic consumption, which is largely dependent on imports; it is carried out in insufficient volumes in the presence of significant reserves of relatively low quality. The most deficient in this list are Ti, Li, Ta, Nb, and REEs (usually, there are groups of heavy and light rare earths (HREEs and LREEs, respectively)): their domestic consumption is provided mainly by imports with very limited production (despite large reserves, including low quality ores). Re, Be, Nb, Ta, HREEs, Y, Sc, LREEs, Ge, Ga, Li, Hf, and Co, and, of nonstrategic MRMs, Bi and Sr, should be considered critical MRMs in the Russian Federation. The most important source of dispersed/ associated elements is represented by raw materials of mining enterprises of nonferrous metallurgy: Cu and Zn subsectors, In, Ge, Ga, Cd, Tl, Se, Te, Sb, Bi, etc.; Al subsectors, Ga; for Au and Au–Ag deposits, Sb, As, Te, Se, Bi, Tl. An associated source of lithium is represented by brines of gas-condensate fields. The issues of assessing complex raw materials for high-tech industry are considered using the example of pyrite, porphyry, and gold-ore deposits of the Ural folded region, which play an important role in its overall metallogenic potential.
463-475
PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE RAW MATERIAL BASE OF SUFFICIENT STRATEGIC TYPES OF SOLID MINERAL RESOURCES OF SIBERIA
Abstract
The analysis of the state of the mineral resource base of strategic types of solid minerals in Russia in general and in Siberia in particular has been carried out. Particular attention is paid to the prospects for the development of the resource base of lithium, rare earth metals, ordinary and impact diamonds in Siberia. The characteristics of a number of deposits and options for their development were assessed, taking into account the quality of ores, geographical location, the state of the infrastructure and the level of development of technologies for ore dressing and obtaining end products. The prospects for the development of the raw material base of niobium and rare earth metals within the Tomtor massif and the territory of the Udzha uplift as a whole are assessed. Summary results of long-term regional field and laboratory studies of the distribution and compositional variations of Cr-pyrope garnet, the most informative of the set of indicator minerals for determining the potential diamond content of kimberlites, selected from uneven-aged intermediate reservoirs of the Siberian Platform, are presented. Based on these results, areas within the platform were identified with signs of the presence of new fields of potentially diamond-bearing kimberlites of the Middle Paleozoic age. A mineralogical description and assessment of the technological characteristics of impact diamonds from the Popigai astrobleme and from the ejection zone in its frame is given. The prospects of creating a new large area of the extractive industry on the raw material base of strategic materials in the territory of the Lena-Khatanga interfluve are substantiated
476-492