Exploration in Russia

2024: 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^[1]

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.^[2]

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