Three promising rare earth metal deposits have been identified in the Siberian Federal District, according to Nikolai Kruk, Director of the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
These include the Beloziminsky group and the Zashikhinsky deposit in the Irkutsk region, as well as the Chuktukonsky deposit in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. All of them contain niobium reserves and are considered more accessible for development than the world's largest Tomtor deposit in the Arctic.
According to the scientist, the efficiency of development needs to be assessed for decades to come. He also emphasized that Russia needs its own factories for the production of rare earth products — magnets, engines, and electronics, since processing is often carried out outside the country.