Exploration in Russia

2026: Rosatom signed a contract with ZBO for 1.7 billion rubles for the purchase of drilling equipment

On January 15, 2026, the SME manufacturer - the Drilling Equipment Plant (ZBO) - signed a contract with a subsidiary of Rosatom for the supply of drilling equipment. The amount of the offset agreement amounted to 1.7 billion rubles. Read more here

2025: Investments in the exploration of solid minerals in Russia for the year increased by 43% and reached 132.6 billion rubles

The volume of investments in the exploration of solid useful in minerals Russia 2025 will reach 132.6 billion, rubles an increase of 43% compared to 2024. This was announced on December 1, 2025 in. Rosnedra

According to the ministry, since the beginning of 2025, about 200 new deposits of solid minerals (TPI) have been discovered and put on the state balance sheet in Russia, including large deposits of potassium-magnesium salts and titanium.

This indicator corresponds to the annual rate of discovery of deposits, which indicates an effective interaction between the state and business in the field of geological exploration, the agency emphasized. Among the most significant new facilities in Rosnedra were:

• Ivanikhinskoye and Tselinnoye deposits of potassium-magnesium salts in the Saratov region with reserves of 1 billion tons and 2 billion tons, respectively;
• Zhidoyskoye subsoil plot in the Irkutsk region, containing 17.3 million tons of titanium, 6.3 million tons of phosphorus and 218.8 million tons of iron ores;
• Golevskoe field of synnyrite ores with reserves of 163.9 million tons, included in the state balance as an example of the development of unconventional potassium-aluminum raw materials.

The resource potential of these facilities makes a significant contribution to the expansion of the country's mineral resource base, according to Rosnedra.

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Фото: Freepik

In an interview with Izvestia, Vladislav Bukharsky, junior director for sovereign and regional ratings at Expert RA, added that the discovery of new deposits strengthens Russia's export potential and reduces dependence on imports for a number of critical raw materials.

According to him, such types of raw materials include potassium, magnesium, titanium, phosphorus-containing raw materials, iron ores, silver and potassium-aluminum minerals. The analyst attaches particular importance to additional volumes of titanium and iron ores, which are in demand in metallurgy, aircraft industry and the chemical industry both in Russia and abroad.^[1][2]

2024

Increase in the amount of funds invested in geological exploration to ₽450 billion

In 2024, the volume of investments in geological exploration in Russia amounted to a record ₽450 billion. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev during a speech at the board of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use at the end of April 2025.

According to Rosnedra, a significant inflow of investment from business over the past 10 years has provided a significant increase in reserves of the most popular types of minerals, including gold, copper, iron and oil. Large deposits were explored, including rare and rare earth metals.

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Фото: Freepik

Dmitry Patrushev stressed that Russia has a unique mineral resource base, which includes about 230 types of minerals. Thanks to this, the country is among the world leaders in the reserves of natural gas, diamonds, gold, nickel, coal and other resources. Extraction of raw materials forms a third of the revenues of the consolidated budget and creates conditions for the sustainable development of industry.

The Federal Agency for Subsoil Use administers almost 24 thousand licenses for the search, exploration and extraction of minerals. The main task of the department is to ensure effective management of the state subsoil fund and control over the quality of license execution.

In the next three years, the Government plans to allocate more than ₽50 billion for the further development of geological exploration, which will ensure a search reserve for scarce types of minerals.

The Deputy Prime Minister drew attention to the need to involve only qualified and experienced companies in the study and development of the subsoil. He noted the importance of increasing the responsibility of subsoil users and preventing the emergence of so-called "sleeping licenses." In the near future, it is planned to analyze each such license. If the entrepreneur is not ready to develop the project, the right to use should be terminated, and the site transferred to a bona fide company.^[3]

Growth of the Russian exploration market by 14.2% to 7.67 thousand km

The volume of geological exploration in Russia excluding seismic exploration in 2024 reached 7.67 thousand km, an increase of 14.2% compared to the result of 2023. Such data are provided by the analytical company BusinesStat in April 2025. This is the maximum value for a five-year period, which indicates increased investment activity in the industry and the state's emphasis on expanding the mineral resource base in the context of a strategic reorientation of the economy to domestic resources.

The study clarifies that in 2020 the volume of geological exploration was 5.81 thousand km, which is 2.6% lower than in 2019. The decrease was due to a reduction in funding for the industry and restrictions related to the epidemiological situation. From 2021, the sector began to demonstrate steady growth: in 2021, the volume of work increased to 6.31 thousand km (an increase of 8.7%), in 2022 - to 6.52 thousand km (an increase of 3.2%), and in 2023 - to 6.72 thousand km (an increase of 3.1%).

The growth of exploration in 2024 was achieved due to the implementation of large projects for the exploration of solid useful, the minerals development of oil and gas fields in hard-to-reach regions, as well as the strengthening of work with rare earth metals and lithium raw materials. In 2024, the first stage of the federal project "Geology: the revival of legend" was completed, aimed at expanding the mineral resource base of Russia and developing the economy. At the end of the year, 39 new hydrocarbon deposits were discovered, including the Yuzhno-Tigyanskoye Yakutia field and the Alexei Pushin field Orenburg in the region. Also, within the framework of federal programs from 2022 to 2024, 6 deposits of solid minerals were discovered in the Republic, and Bashkortostan Zabaykalsk the regions Primorsk , Murmansk Sverdlovsk and regions. In 2024, 229 gold deposits were discovered in Russia. In 2024^[4]

2022: Exploration market growth for 4 years by 20% to 6.52 thousand km

The volume of the Russian exploration market excluding seismic exploration in 2022 reached 6.52 thousand km, which is 3.2% more than a year ago. In 2021, the figure increased by 8.7%, analysts at BusinesStat, whose data were published in November 2023, calculated.

According to experts, in 2022, in comparison with 2021, the volume of the exploration market in Russia excluding seismic exploration increased by almost 20%. According to experts, the Russian Federation is a country with rich geological potential, while the bulk of the most promising reserves of raw materials are easily recoverable categories. In recent years, the main increase in geological exploration of the country's territory has been accounted for by additional exploration of existing deposits mainly in Western Siberia, the Urals and the Volga region, the growth rate is estimated at 5-6% annually.

More active development of the subsoil is hindered by the low pace of modernization of the industry, with the exception of the hydrocarbon segment, where the process of updating equipment and digitalization is more active. Market participants have special hopes for the development and implementation of specialized software as one of the drivers of further market development in the coming years, according to a study released in November 2023.

The main share of enterprises engaged in geological exploration, geophysical and geochemical work in the field of subsoil exploration and reproduction of the mineral resource base had a private form of ownership - 70.9% of the total number in the country by the end of 2022. In 2018-2022 the number of employees of industry enterprises in Russia decreased by 21.4%: from 70.3 thousand to 55.3 thousand people. The indicator increased only in 2019 by 2.8% compared to the previous year, in the remaining years of the period it decreased.^[5]

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