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Overview
According to available estimates in 2011 the level of production of the mining and metallurgical industries of Russia was about 4 trillion rubles (approx. 130 billion USD).
By the end of 2010 Russian export of mining and metallurgical products exceeded 50 billion dollars.
Table 1. Russian Mining and Metallurgical Industries export, million USD.
| Product | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Non-metallic raw materials | 743 | 2,222 | 873 | 980 |
| Metal ores | 1,592 | 2,375 | 1,178 | 2,273 |
| Non-metallic products | 368 | 362 | 275 | 314 |
| Ceramic products | 212 | 202 | 174 | 244 |
| Precious stones and metals | 6,832 | 7,164 | 5,039 | 8,623 |
| Ferrous metals | 21,119 | 28,658 | 14,720 | 19,345 |
| Ferrous metal products | 2,486 | 3,086 | 3,104 | 2,095 |
| Nonferrous and rare metals | 23,316 | 19,744 | 14,227 | 18,864 |
| Total | 56,668 | 63,813 | 39,590 | 52,738 |
Source: Federal Customs Service data.
Commodities
Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminum
In the CIS, bauxite is mined only in Russia (5-6 million tonnes) and Kazakhstan (5 million tonnes). Mined bauxite is used to produce alumina.
The alumina production in Russia has decreased in recent years to 2.8-2.9 million tonnes, and the production in Kazakhstan is about 1.6 thousand tonnes. Alumina is also produced in Ukraine (from imported bauxite).
The largest producers of alumina in Russia are the Achinsk Alumina complex (Rusal-Achinsk) and the Bogoslovky Aluminum Plant (the Sverdlovsk region), each producing about 1 million tonnes.
Low quality of mined bauxite and its insufficient amount leads to massive imports of alumina by Russian smelters. Russia imports 4.7-5.3 million tonnes of alumina.
The traditional alumina suppliers are Kazakhstan (represented by the Pavlodar plant) and Ukraine (the Nikolaev Alumina Plant). In total, these countries export more than 50% of alumina. Also, a high proportion of deliveries of this product to Russian are from Australia and Guinea.
The primary aluminum production in Russia is at the level of 3.8-4.1 million tonnes. Since the beginning of the 2000s, the growth in the output of aluminum in Russia amounted to about 20%.
The largets producers are the Bratsk Aluminum Plant and the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant, each producing about 1 million tonnes of aluminum per year.
Russia exports significant amount of aluminum - over 80% of its production. Export levels exceed 3 million tonnes per year.
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Chromium and Manganese
Until recently, the mining of chrome ores in Russia did not exceed 150 thousand tonnes, however in recent years due to the launch of the company "Kongor-chrome" (Polar Urals) this figure increased to 650-750 thousand tonnes.
The major producer of chrome ores in the CIS is Kazakhstan. Production volumes of these products amount to 3.6-3.8 million tonnes.
The main producer of chrome ore in this country is the Donskoy mining and concentration complex, included presently in the corporation ENRC (Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation).
The level of production of manganese ore in Russia remains very low. The major producer of commodity manganese ores in the CIS is Ukraine, represented by the Marganets and Ordzhonikidze mining and concentration complexes.
However, in the 2000s the output of this production in Ukraine has decreased (to 1.2 million tonnes), due to the low quality of Ukrainian manganese ores, which have the high content of phosphorus.
A distinctive feature is the growth of the commodity manganese ore output in Kazakhstan - up to 1 million tonnes, and the principal amount is shipped to Russian companies.
Ferroalloys. Chromium and manganese raw material are used mainly for the production of ferroalloys.
In the ferroalloys production structure in Russia prevails ferrosilicon (54%), which is due to the presence in the country of large enough stocks of high-quality quartzite.
The output of ferrochrome is also quite high - 400-500 thousand tonnes. In Ukraine, the main types of ferroalloys are ferromanganese and ferroalloys, in Kazakhstan - ferrochrome.
Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan produce in total 4-5 million tonnes of ferroalloys, and due to falling production in Ukraine the first place belongs now to Kazakhstan,
which produced about 1.7 million tonnes of ferroalloys in 2009. The largest CIS ferroalloy producer in the CIS is the Aksu Ferroalloy Plant (Kazakhstan),
which produced about 1.3 million tonnes of ferroalloys in 2010. The largest Russian producer of ferroalloys is the Chelyabinsk Electric Plant (the Chelyabinsk region).
A significant part of ferroalloys produced in Russia is not marketable in the domestic market and goes to export.
The volume of exports in recent years stands at 800-900 thousand tonnes, so the export share of ferroalloys exceeds 50%.
Other alloying metals. Russia currently produces 12-16 thousand tonnes of metallic chromium and by this indicator has the first place in the world.
Metallic chromium is produced by three companies – the Klyuchevskoy Ferroalloy Plant (the Urals), the Novotroitsk plant of chromium compounds (the Urals), and "Polema" (Central Russia).
The greater part of chromium (more than 85%) Russia exports (mainly to the Netherlands and the USA).
Russia takes the 3rd place in the world production of ferrovanadium. In Russia two companies manufacture these products - "Vanadium-Tula" (Central Russia) and the Chusovoy Steel Plant (Volga region).
The overwhelming volume of produced ferrovanadium (6-8 thousand tonnes) is exported. The production of ferromolybdenum is also at a high level in Russia, its output amounts to 6-7 thousand tonnes.
The producers are the Sorsky and the Zhireken ferromolybdenum plants belonging to the company "Soyuzmetallresurs."
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Copper
Total reserves of copper in the CIS countries are about 180 million tonnes, with Russia accounting for about 50% of them.
Significant reserves of copper are also located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The largest deposit is the undeveloped at present Udokan (Eastern Siberia), which contains about 20 million tonnes of copper.
Other major copper deposits in Russia include Octyabrskoe, Talnakhskoe (Eastern Siberia), and Gaiskoe (the Orenburg region).
The production of refined copper in Russia amounts to 870-890 thousand tonnes. The largest enterprises, producing refined copper in Russia, are complex "Uralelectromed",
which is a part of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC), and the Polar Division of MMC "Norilsk Nickel".
If one considers the output of copper in Russia by holdings, there prevail MMC "Norilsk Nickel" (46% in 2010) and UMMC (40%).
In addition, significant capacities for the production of refined copper are available in 2 smelters in Kazakhstan - the Zhezkazgan and the Balkhash smelters,
which are members of the corporation "Kazakhmys". The corporation "Kazakhmys" produces over 300 thousand tonnes of refined copper.
The main volume of refined copper in Russia is produced during the processing of copper concentrates; the percentage of recycled materials in the form of copper scrap in recent years is in the range 30-40%.
The share of exports of refined copper in recent years exceeds 50%, with a significant portion of copper supplied to the world market as copper rod.
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Gallium and Indium
In the structure of the gallium production in the CIS prevail Kazakhstan and Ukraine, which together account for more than 80%.
It is estimated that annually in Russia 4-6 t of gallium are produced, and the main producer of gallium is currently the company "Gallii" (Urals). Russia exports almost all of the gallium.
Traditionally, the main enterprise for the production of gallium is the Pavlodar Aluminum Plant (Kazakhstan), with the capacity of 25 tonnes of gallium per year.
Also the Nikolaev Alumina Plant (Ukraine) significantly increased its production of gallium, and currently can produce 12-14 tonnes of gallium per year.
One of the major producers of indium in CIS is the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant (Russia), which extracts it during the processing of the zinc concentrates.
In recent years, the production of this metal in the company increased to 5-6 tonnes per year. Also the production of indium is resumed at "Electrozinc".
Indium, produced in Russia, is almost fully exported.
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Gold
Total gold reserves in the CIS countries are estimated at 18 thousand tonnes. Of these, more than 50% are explored in Russia, with the largest deposits with reserves of 1,500 tonnes being Natalkinskoe and Sukhoi Log.
The high level of gold reserves is known in Uzbekistan, where the gold deposit Muruntau is located.
The gold production in Russia (including the associated and secondary production) has increased in recent years to 200-205 tonnes.
This is due to a sharp increase in production from primary deposits, their share rose to 65%. Gold mining stands at 180-190 tonnes.
In the structure of Russian gold mining dominates the Far East region, which accounts for 55-58% of all mined gold in the country, and the share of the Eastern Siberia is 35-38%.
Among the gold-mining enterprises in Russia the largest annual production has OJSC "Polyus Zoloto" (the Krasnoyarsk region) - 38-40 tonnes of gold.
In the CIS the leader in gold mining is Navoi Mining (Uzbekistan), which develops the Muruntau deposit and produces 57-59 tonnes of gold.
The share of foreign companies in Russia's gold production in recent years is quite stable and stands at the level of 24-27%.
The largest foreing gold producers are Kinross Gold Corp., Petropavlovsk Plc and Highland Gold Mining.
The mined in Russia gold is refined at 8 refineries. The greatest amount of processing is carried out by the Krasnoyarsk refinery ("Krastsvetmet") - more than 80 tonnes of gold.
Also, a high level of processing is at the Kolymsky, Prioksky and Novosibirsky refineries.
Among other CIS countries Uzbekistan stands out in terms of gold production - over 80 tonnes.
Also relatively large amounts of gold are mined in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - over 20 and 15 tonnes respectively.
| Mining Intelligence Report: Gold |
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Iron Ore
Russia has the world's largest reserves of iron ore - around 56 billion tonnes.
In the CIS Russia accounts for 60% of the iron ore reserves, the rest being distributed between Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
At present Russia produces over 100 million tonnes of marketable iron ores, and according to this indicator the country is in the 5th place in the world.
The bulk of iron ores in Russia is in the Central region (60%), where the well-known Kursk magnetic anomaly is located.
In addition, quite significant reserves of iron ores in Russia are in the Urals and Siberia.
The main volume of iron ore in Russia (over 50%) is mined in the Central region, where there are 4 iron ore companies.
The largest iron-ore enterprises in Russia are Lebedinsky and Mikhailovsky mining and concentration complexes. Volumes of production of marketable iron ores exceed 15-17 million tonnes.
Russian iron-ore companies export over 20% of their products, the bulk is supplied to the domestic market for the production of metalized raw materials and iron.
In Russia, the production of commercial iron ore is projected to increase up to 120-125 million tonnes by 2017 due to the launch of the Prioskolsky mining and concentration complex
in Central Russia and the Kimkano-Sutarsky mining and concentration complex in the Far East.
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Magnesium and Titanium
Titanium in the form of titanium sponge and magnesium in the CIS countries are produced in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
In the production of these metals in the CIS Russia dominates, accounting for more than 60% of magnesium and 50% of titanium sponge.
The raw material for production of magnesium in Russia is enriched carnallite, obtained as a by-product during the processing of potassium and magnesium salts ("Uralkali", "Silvinit", the Perm region).
The raw material for the production of titanium sponge in Russia are ilmenite concentrates coming from imports.
Despite the considerable resources of titanium raw materials, the mining of titanium-containing ores in Russia is practically not implemented.
The predominant amount of ilmenite concentrates is imported from Ukraine (Volnogorskiy MMC and the Irshanskiy mining and concentration complex).
It should be noted that the part of magnesium produced by the titanium-magnesium plants is used internally by the enterprises themselves for the production of titanium,
thus the share of commercial magnesium depends on the production of titanium sponge.
Magnesium and titanium producers in Russia are Solikamsk Magnesium Co., Inc. "AVISMA" and JSC "VSMPO" (the latter two companies are part of the corporation VSMPO-AVISMA).
VSMPO belongs to producers of titanium semi-finished products and titanium sponge.
"VSMPO-AVISMA" produces currently 20-25 thousand tonnes of titanium products and 8-10 thousand tonnes of magnesium;
the Solikamsk magnesium plant produces 11-14 thousand tonnes of magnesium and up to 3 thousand tonnes of titanium products. Russia's share in the world production of titanium sponge stands at 20%.
The CIS also has two plants - the Ust-Kamenogorsk Titanium and Magnesium Plant (Kazakhstan) and the Zaporozhye Titanium-Magnesium Combine (Ukraine) with capacities to produce titanium sponge and magnesium.
Exports of titanium products (sponge, powder, ingots, goods) from Russia is at a level of about 20 thousand tonnes, accounting for more than 80% of the production.
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Molybdenum and Tungsten
The structure of the reserves of molybdenum and tungsten deposits in the CIS shows a high proportion of Russia and Kazakhstan.
For reserves of molybdenum in the CIS Russia dominates (40%), for reserves of tungsten - Kazakhstan (56%). Armenia has a relatively high share of molybdenum reserves (25%).
Russia (along with Armenia) is a leader in the production of the molybdenum concentrate - more than 4 thousand tonnes per year.
A low level of production of the molybdenum concentrates exists in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The main enterprise-producers of the molybdenum concentrate in CIS are the Sorsky and the Zhirekensky mining and concentration complexes,
belonging to the holding "Basic Element", and also the Zangezur mining and concentration complex (Armenia).
Russian enterprises, until recently, exported almost the entire volume of the produced molybdenum concentrates.
In recent years, these companies put into operation the production capacities for ferromolybdenum,
which led to a sharp decrease in the supply of the molybdenum concentrate and the growth of the ferromolybdenum export.
Also the Armenian molybdenum concentrate is processed domestically into marketable products, primary among which is ferromolybdenum (Armenian Molybdenum Production, “Pure Iron Plant").
The tungsten concentrate in the CIS countries is produced only in Russia. Its release is currently carried out by six companies,
the largest among which is the Primorsky mining and concentration complex (the Far East) - 60% of the total production.
The principal amount of the produced tungsten concentrate (over 60%) is exported.
The main output of metallic molybdenum and tungsten in Russia falls to JSC "Pobedit" (North Caucasus).
The plant produces 60-120 tonnes of tungsten metal and 10-30 tonnes of metallic molybdenum.
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Nickel
The total reserves of nickel in the CIS countries amount to about 20 million tonnes, with Russia accounting for more than 90% of them, and the rest is distributed between Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
Over 70% of nickel reserves of Russia falls on the Octyabrskoe and Talnakhkskoy deposits (Eastern Siberia), which are developed by MMC "Norilsk Nickel".
The share of MMC "Norilsk Nickel" is 87-90% of the total output of nickel in Russia, and the rest is produced by nickel plants in the Urals ("Yuzhuralnikel", "Ufaleynikel", "Rezhnikel",
and the Buruktalsky nickel plant). MMC "Norilsk Nickel" in Russia produces about 23-24 million tonnes of ore, which contains 280-290 thousand tonnes of nickel.
The output of commercial refined nickel by MMC "Norilsk Nickel" from Russian raw materials is at the level of 232-235 thousand tonnes.
The capacities for the production of refined nickel exist on two Russian sites of MMC "Norilsk Nickel" - the Polar Division (Norilsk) and the Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company (Monchegorsk, the Murmansk region).
Russia exports a significant amount of nickel - 240-245 thousand tonnes per year.
This is largely due to the low consumption of nickel in the country due to the low volume of output of stainless steels and alloys. Thus, the export of nickel relative to its production in recent years is over 90%.
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Niobium and Tantalum
Reserves of these metals in the CIS are explored almost exclusively in Russia, which accounts for almost 100% of niobium and 98% of tantalum.
Despite the high level of reserves of niobium and tantalum, concentrated mainly in Eastern Siberia, currently only a single deposit - Lovozero (the Northwest Region) - is being developed.
The Lovozero mining and concentration complex produces a loparite concentrate containing niobium, tantalum and rare-earth metals.
The loparite concentrate is shipped for further processing to the Solikamsk magnesium plant, with deliveries ranged from 5 to 9 thousand tonnes.
The Solikamsk magnesium plant processes the loparite concentrate into niobium pentoxide and tantalum pentoxide, which are mainly exported.
The volumes of exports are 400-600 tonnes of niobium pentoxide and 30-40 tonnes of tantalum pentoxide.
In addition to the Solikamsk plant in the CIS there is the Ulbinsky metallurgical combine (part of the group "Kazatomprom"), which currently processes imported tantalum-niobium raw materials.
The company manufactures metalic tantalum and niobium, with the annual production of 30-50 tonnes of niobium and to 270 tonnes of tantalum per year.
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Platinum Group Metalls
Russia is the world's largest producer of palladium. It is the second largest producer of platinum.
The production of PGM (most important of which are platinum and palladium) in Russia is carried out during the processing of copper-nickel ores (90%),
with the rest coming from alluvial deposits and the production from secondary raw materials.
MMC "Norilsk Nickel" produces PGM during the processing of copper and nickel ores. The production of platinum and palladium from Russian raw materials is 20-21 and 86-87 tonnes, respectively.
"Norilsk Nickel" exports the principal amount of PGM, with the share of exports being over 95% for palladium and from 50 to 80% for platinum.
The share of PGM in the total revenues of the company amounts to 11-17%, depending on market conditions.
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Rare-Earth Elements
The overwheling majority of rare-earth elements in the CIS are in the Russian deposits (99%).
There are only small amounts at the non-developed Kutesay deposit in Kyrgyzstan, which account for 1% of the reserves of the CIS.
The only source of REE in Russia is also the Lovozero deposit of loparite. The resulting loparite concentrate contains 32-34% oxide of REE.
The Solikamsk magnesium plant processes the concentrate into carbonates and oxides of rare-earth elements. Currently, the plant supplies products containing from 1.5 to 3 thousand tonnes of oxides of REE.
The plant exports most of the rare-earth products, the main delivery areas are Estonia and Kazakhstan. In Estonia the consumer is the company Silmet, in Kazakhstan the Irtysh rare-earth company.
The Irtysh rare-earth company (IRZK), which processes raw materials from China and Russia, produces compounds of rare-earth metals.
IRZK sent to Russia mainly nitrates of REM, which are used as catalysts on petrochemical plants.
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Silicon
Silicon production in Russia was approximately 50 thousand tonnes. Currently, it decreased to 30 thousand tonnes.
Silicon in Russia is produced by 2 companies - the Urals Aluminum Plant (UAZ) and the Irkutsk Aluminium Smelter (IrkAZ).
The raw material for production is high-quality quartzite. Russia has quite a high level of supply to foreign markets of silicon, which account for 40-50% of the total production.
Production of monocrystalline silicon in the CIS is carried out by 6 companies, 4 of which are located in Ukraine.
The largest producer is currently the Podolsk Chemical-Metallurgical Plant (the Moscow Region).
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Silver
The main reserves of silver in the CIS are distributed mainly between Russia (38%), Kazakhstan (26%) and Tajikistan (22%). The deposits of silver ores are also located in Uzbekistan.
The level of the silver production in Russia (including the associated and secondary production) is 1400-1500 tonnes, with 50-55% coming from the extraction of silver from the silver and gold-silver ores.
The largest company producing silver in Russia is "Polymetal", which share exceeds 60%.
The company develops in the Far East the largest deposit of silver ore in Russia - Dukat, and also develops the deposit Lunnoye.
The main volume of silver refining in Russia is carried out by "Krastsvetmet" (the Krasnoyarsk region), "Uralelectromed" (the Sverdlovsk region) and the Prioksky non-ferrous metals plant (the Ryazan region).
In addition to Russia, a major producer of silver in the CIS is Kazakhstan. However, in recent years the output in this country declined from 700 to 550 tonnes.
This is due to the decrease in the silver content in mined ores (copper, lead and zinc). The largest silver producer in Kazakhstan is the company "Kazakhmys" (over 80%).
| Mining Intelligence Report: Silver |
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Tin
Tin in concentrate and metallic tin in the CIS are available only in Russia. Tin concentrate is produced by two businesses - "Sahaolovo" (Yakutia) and "Dal'olovo" (Khabarovsk Territory), and the volume of production does not exceed one thousand tonnes.
The only manufacturer of tin metal is the Novosibirsk Tin Plant (Novosibirsk), processing Russian and imported raw materials.
In recent years, the production of tin metal in the company fell to 1.3-1.4 thousand tonnes.
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Uranium
Estimated uranium reserves in the CIS countries are around 1.5 million tonnes, with largest proportions in Kazakhstan (49%) and Russia (32%). Uranium deposits are also explored in Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Armenia.
Russia produces 3.2-3.6 thousand tonnes of the uranium concentrate, the main enterprise on uranium mining in Russia is the Priargunskoe Mining and Chemical Production Association (East Siberia).
In the CIS the leader in the production of uranium concentrates is Kazakhstan, which already has achieved the output of more than 13 thousand tonnes of uranium in the form of the uranium concentrate.
The extraction of uranium ore and the production of uranium-containing products is carried out by the company "Kazatomprom".
Uranium products are also produced in the CIS by Uzbekistan (the Navoi MMC) and Ukraine (the Vostochnyi Mining and concentration complex).
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Zinc and Lead
The CIS countries have fairly large reserves of zinc and lead, 90 and 55 million tonnes, respectively. The Russia's share is 48 and 38% of the CIS stock, respectively.
The main output of the zinc and lead concentrates in the CIS countries falls to Russia and Kazakhstan.
Russia produces high levels of the lead concentrate (over 100 thousand tonnes), while Kazakhstan produces more of the zinc concentrate (above 200 thousand tonnes).
The structure of the output of these metals in the CIS is somewhat different from the structure of the concentrates' production: Kazakhstan prevails for both zinc and lead.
This is due to the fact that Russia exports the lead concentrate and produces the lead metal from recycled materials.
The production of lead from lead scrap is also carried out by Ukraine, and Uzbekistan produces the zinc metal from the imported zinc concentrate.
Producers of zinc include the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant and "Electrozinc" (North Caucasus). The later company is also the largest producer of lead in Russia.
In Kazakhstan, zinc is released by the Ust-Kamenogorsk and the Ridder zinc plants belonging to the corporation "Kazzinc".
Because of the relatively large proportion of domestic consumption of zinc,
its exports are lower compared to other non-ferrous metals and amount to 30-35% (for comparison, the same index for Kazakhstan is more than 80-85%).
The presence of significant reserves of zinc allows predicting a significant increase in its production in Russia.
This will be due to the implementation of a project to develop large deposits of zinc - Ozernoe and Kyzyl-Tashtygskoe (East Siberia), and Korbalihinskoe (Western Siberia).
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Zirconium
The main reserves of zirconium in the CIS are concentrated mainly in Russia, which accounts for about 70%, while deposits of Ukraine amounts to 20%, and those of Kazakhstan - to 10%.
Two major deposits of zirconium are being developed: Malyshevskoe in Ukraine (the Volnogorskiy State mining and metallurgical combine) and Kovdor in Russia (the Kovdor mining and concentration complex).
The Kovdor mining and concentration complex produces 5-8 thousand tonnes of the baddeleyite concentrate, which is mainly exported.
About 8-10 thousand tonnes of the zircon concentrate from Ukraine comes to Russia,
some of them are used for the production of zirconium metal in the Chepetsk mechanical plant at the level of 1-1.3 thousand tonnes per year.
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