Mineral users' investments in geological exploration of rare earth metals (REM) in Russia will quadruple in 2025, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation stated.
The ministry clarified that investments in REM geological exploration in 2024 were at the level of 49.6 million rubles, and the work was funded by mineral users. In 2025, investments will increase approximately fourfold, up to 200 million rubles.
Work in this area has not been carried out at the expense of the federal budget since 2018 due to the lack of need to increase a sufficiently powerful raw material base at present.
Total investments in geological exploration of solid minerals in the country this year are expected to be at the level of 132.6 billion rubles, compared to 92.45 billion rubles at the end of 2024.
The head of Rosnedra, Oleg Kazanov, noted that Russia's reserves of rare metals, such as tantalum and niobium, will last for another 100 to 400 years.
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