The Ministry of Finance proposed to tighten control over geological exploration for gold

Against the backdrop of record prices for gold, the government is preparing to tighten the supervision of subsoil use in the field of extraction of precious metals. The Ministry of Finance proposed to limit users in access to the bowels of users, who, with a free license for geological exploration, are engaged in an affinant or unaccounted prey in areas with the highest metal content. But in the industry they fear that initiatives may make it difficult to make a difficult procedure for obtaining a permit for exploration.

The Ministry of Finance has developed a bill to combat unlawful subsoil use in the field of extraction of precious metals. Document published On March 20, on the portal of legal information, public discussions will last until April 2.

We are talking about users who, under the guise of exploration,, the license for which is issued for free, work out the richest areas, « receiving superprofits, evading the payment of payments to the budget and causing irreparable harm to deposits. » The remaining parts of the deposits are not developed and are not of interest to other business entities, since they become unprofitable. This causes significant property damage to the state, it is said by a consolidated report on the assessment of the regulatory effect.

The bill proposes to oblige users of the subsoil related to the extraction of precious metals, to present information about their content in raw materials, the turnover of raw materials and its processing products in GIS DMDK.

In case of failure to submit such information, the right to use the plots should be limited. A similar measure should be applied to users in respect of which a decision was made on administrative punishment for the illegal extraction of precious metals. In addition, the Ministry of Finance proposes to prohibit the affinage of gold mined as a result of exploration.

As noted in a consolidated report, the adoption of the bill will prevent illegal gold to the market, which will make the industry more transparent and more attractive for investment. In the Ministry of Natural Resources, they redirected the issues of Kommersant to the Ministry of Finance, where they did not provide a comment. Large gold miners “Kommersant” did not answer.

This is not the first in recent years of the Ministry of Finance to tighten control over the precious metals market.

In October 2024, the ministry prepared a bill that obliges affinating plants to monitor the GIS DMDK supply chain and also limit the reception of precious metals if the information about them to GIS DMDK does not allow confirming the legality of origin. The bill is an assessment of the regulatory effect. Control over subsoil use was also tightened. For example, at the end of 2023, a law was adopted to increase fines for delaying exploration.

According to Akra, in 2024, 328 tons of gold were mined in the Russian Federation, which is 2% more than a year earlier. Industrial expert Leonid Khazanov says that the volume of illegal gold mining in Russia can be estimated at 20–25 tons per year. Part of it is represented by the activities of black prospectors, part of the selective development of reserves during exploration. According to him, high gold prices in combination with disabilities for official employment in a number of regions of the Russian Federation and the presence of « gray buyers » stimulate illegal production. But, the expert points out, such an activity is seasonal.

Attention to the sector of regulators is growing against the background of record gold prices.

On March 19, Gold Futures on the Chicago Modern Exchange (CME) established a new historical maximum, exceeding $ 3050 for a troika ounce. On March 20, quotes were adjusted to $ 3044.8 per ounce. Gold prices update records in conditions of high inflation in the world, geopolitical instability and distrust of the main reserve currencies, the ACRA review is noted.

Kommersant's interlocutors in the industry are afraid that the bill can create additional difficulties for bona fide market participants, compliance with the already difficult procedure for obtaining permission for exploration. And reducing illegal production, Kommersant sources note, as a result will not occur.

Mikhail Leskov, chief editor of the Zolon and Technology, explains that the geological exploration involves sampling and the more uneven gold content, the greater the volume must be selected. And the larger the samples are taken, the more gold is extracted, but this cannot be called prey, it continues. According to the expert, there are many obstacles to replenish the raw material base. Records, notes Mr. Leskov, beats not only the cost of gold, but also the key rate, personnel deficiency and production costs.

Polina Trifonova