Rosneft acquired the license owner for the field of rare earth metals
A license for one of the world’s largest fields of rare -earth metals – Tomtor in Yakutia – has been controlled by Rosneft (MOOEX: Rosn). The rights to a plot with the content of the oxides of Niobia, Terbia, Ittria, etc. Back in 2014, they received the structures of the East group, but the implementation of the project stalled, which including the comments of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. Investments in the development of the field are estimated at 150-200 billion rubles. But “Kommersant” sources indicate the lack of technology for its development, demand in the domestic market and limited export capabilities.
Rosneft received 100% LLC Vostok Engineering, which owns a license for the use of the subsoil of the Burannaya Tomtorsky deposit of rare earth metals (RMZ). The corresponding changes to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities were made on May 20. Previously, the company was owned by Triark Mining LLC, whose beneficiary is the reporting manager of the East Group Vladislav Resin. The East and Rosneft did not provide comments.
The Totor field in Yakutia is one of the world’s largest reserves in the world.
Forecast resources were estimated at 154 million tons of ore with a high content of niobium oxides, Terbia, Ittria and Scandium, etc. Trarka Mining, which won the auction for the right to use the subsoil in 2014, then was a joint enterprise of the East and Rostec group, in 2019 the latter left the project. In 2021, Polymetal (today Solidcore Resources), having left the asset in the summer of 2024, announced the purchase of 9.1% “Trarka Mining” for $ 20 million. The primary assessment of the reserves of the Tomtorsky deposit is 11.4 million tons of ore with a content of 0.7 million tons of niobium oxide and 1.7 million tons of rare -earth oxides, Polymetal reported in 2021. It was planned to start production in 2022, and by 2024 to build a plant with a capacity of up to 160 thousand tons of ore per year, but the implementation of the project was slowed down.
The sources of Kommersant spoke about the interest of Rosneft in Tomtor in November 2024. As the interlocutors of Kommersant said, the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, in a letter to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, proposed to transfer the shipbuilding complex “Zvezda” (controlled by Rosneft, Rosneftegaz and Gazprombank) to the United Shipbuilding Corporation (OSK) “at the cost of construction of the tomato. The costs of the construction of « stars » and adjacent capacities were estimated at 250 billion rubles. But the deal Not took place. In March 2025, the head of VTB (controls OSK) Andrei Kostin said that the corporation does not have “free resources” and it was decided that “it is better to develop themselves”.
Dissatisfaction with the project of development of Tomtor was expressed by Vladimir Putin.
“Those business structures that took these deposits many years ago do not invest. We need to somehow talk with them and resolve this issue: either they invest, or they somehow build relations with other companies, with the state, ”said the President of the Russian Federation at the end of November at a meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. As Vladimir Putin emphasized then, this is a strategically important resource that the state needs now. This year, the readiness for cooperation in projects for the extraction of RES with government structures and companies from the USA began to be discussed (see Kommersant on February 25).
Ruslan Dimukhamedov, chairman of the Association of RM and RMZ, says that the Tomtorsky deposit is one of the richest in the Russian Federation, has a resource potential of about tens of thousands of tons of RMZ per year. The Burannaya section, which has so far been issued a license, according to him, is the most promising to mastering the entire deposit.
According to Mr. Dimukhamedov, the capacities of the deposit will be multiplying higher than the current volume of the Russian RMZ market, so it should have a large export potential. In 2019, the total investment in the project was estimated at 53 billion rubles. According to Mr. Dimukhamedov, today the development of the field will require 150-200 billion rubles. The project involves creating capacities for the extraction and processing of ore with the extraction of RMZ and Niobia, the expert adds.
“Trarka Mining” previously planned to produce Niobia oxide and concentrate of the RESM on the plant, which are then supplied to third -party plants for further processing. Niobia oxide, in particular, was to be used to produce ferroniobia used in the smelting of heat -resistant alloys.
The Kommersant source, familiar with the situation, says that in Russia today there are no technologies for the development of Tomtor.
According to him, there is no large deficiency of RMZ in the country as a whole, because there is no production that needs such metals in large quantities. And the export, the interlocutor of Kommersant continues, is actually closed, since China dominates the world market. The PRC accounts for more than 60% of production and more than 40% of the reserves of RMZ in the world.
The Ministry of Natural Resources evaluate the total confirmed balance reserves of the RMZ by February 2025 in the Russian Federation at 18 explored deposits of 28.5 million tons, 1% of the volume is extracted. There are no capacities for the processing of RES in Russia. Russia imports up to 90% RMZ, according to the NKR.
