Despite the fact that Russia is fabulously rich in minerals, a century ago, little was known about them. The country's bowels were practically not studied, and the necessary raw materials were imported from abroad. Coal was brought from England, phosphoric fertilizers were delivered from Morocco , and potassium salts were bought in Germany.
Beginning in the 1930s, a large-scale geological exploration of deposits and large-scale mining of minerals began in the Soviet Union. At the end of its existence, the USSR was a world leader in identified mineral resources and their diversity.
Situation today
Most of the natural resources of the Soviet Union were inherited by Russia, and at present it is the most endowed mineral resource country in the world. Experts estimate the explored natural resources on its territory at $ 27 trillion.
Throughout the 20th century, and most of all in its second half, the extraction of minerals steadily increased in Russia. For example, from 1960 to 1990, oil began to be extracted 4.3 times more, and natural gas - 26.7 times. At the same time, production of iron ore increased by almost 2.7 times and coal - by 1.3 times. At the end of the last century, when the country experienced a decline and production declined, Russia still held leading positions in the world in the extraction of gas, coal, oil, and iron ore.
Today, Russia is considered the most important mining power on the planet. Mining, despite many difficulties, has remained a fairly prosperous industry.
The main problem affecting the development of the mining industry is the poor transport infrastructure and the lack of modern technologies for processing fossil raw materials, which leads to the predominance of raw materials in exports.
Uneven distribution of natural resources
Deposits of mineral resources throughout Russia are distributed extremely unevenly. The largest number of them is in Siberia, which is rightly called the country's pantry. It is here that the main mining is concentrated.
Almost a third of all the mineral wealth of the country is located in Western Siberia, another quarter - in Eastern. From 8 to 12% of their reserves are available in the Volga, Ural, Northern and Far Eastern economic regions. The remaining regions of Russia are not rich in mineral resources .
Who is allowed to mine ?In order to comply with national interests, the extraction of minerals in Russia is carried out within the framework of the current legislation and in compliance with all its requirements regarding the use of the country's bowels. Granting the right to use mineral resources is made out by special permission.
According to federal law, a license to extract minerals can only be issued for deposits that have passed state expertise. It gives the right to search and carry out development of deposits and other specified types of work. Licenses are issued by the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use.