Vasily Rakitin: The Far East Must Become a Center for the Development of Strategic Metals

Among the Far East’s development priorities are extractive and processing industries, the technologies of today and tomorrow, investment, logistics, and infrastructure for economic growth. Nearly three thousand investment projects are being implemented in the Far East with a total volume of invested funds of 6.5 trillion rubles; more than 1,100 enterprises have been launched and over 180,000 jobs created. But the next stage of the macroregion’s development should be linked not only to the number of projects, but to their technological content.

The Far East has a significant mineral resource base. For Russia, this is especially important in an environment where global competition is increasingly shifting from the struggle for markets for finished products to the struggle for access to critically important raw materials. Tungsten, tin, copper, rare and rare-earth metals are no longer narrow, sector-specific items. They are the foundation for machine-tool building, radio electronics, power equipment, the defense industry, battery technologies, industrial robotics, and digital infrastructure.

Recent industry developments show that interest in this topic is increasing. According to Kommersant, entities associated with the Areal Group may launch a project to mine and process tungsten in Buryatia in the Dzhida area; interest in this metal has increased amid China’s export restrictions and rising prices. In parallel, Urangeo geologists are conducting tungsten exploration in the Dzhida area in Buryatia as part of the federal program “Geology: the revival of a legend”.

An example with tin is no less indicative. Rusolovo’s enterprises are located in Khabarovsk Krai and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug; in the first half of 2026 the company produced 2,021 tonnes of tin in concentrate, and its projects are linked to developing a full-cycle tin production in Khabarovsk Krai. According to industry materials, virtually all tin reserves in Russia are concentrated within the Far Eastern Federal District, primarily in Yakutia, Primorsky and Khabarovsk krais, as well as in Chukotka.

These examples are not important in and of themselves. They show a broader trend: the Far East can become one of the key territories where Russia will not just extract strategic raw materials, but build industrial value chains around them. It is fundamentally important for the country to move away from a model where value is created mainly at the extraction stage. True technological sovereignty begins where raw materials are linked with processing, equipment, services, engineering competencies, digital solutions, and domestic industrial demand.

This is especially relevant for strategic metals. Tungsten or tin cannot be viewed only as commodity items. Tungsten is needed for hard alloys, tooling, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, and the defense-industrial complex. Tin matters for radio electronics, solders, coatings, and high-tech manufacturing. Rare and rare-earth metals underlie a number of modern industrial areas. Therefore, the question of their extraction and processing is a matter not only for the mining sector, but for industrial policy as a whole.

Several tasks arise here.

The first is geological exploration and replenishment of the mineral resource base. Without systematic exploration, it is impossible to ensure the long-term development of projects. For strategic metals, it is particularly important to understand not only the volume of reserves, but also ore quality, processing complexity, logistics, infrastructure constraints, and potential sales markets.

The second is processing. Extracting raw materials is not enough. Conditions must be created for the development of beneficiation, metallurgical processing, the production of concentrates, and products with higher value added. It is processing that turns the mineral resource base into the country’s industrial asset.

The third is infrastructure. Many promising sites are located in difficult areas where roads, energy, communications, logistics, and a workforce and social base are needed. Without infrastructure support, even a strategically important deposit may remain a project on paper.

The fourth is technological cooperation. The development of strategic metals requires interaction among subsoil users, processors, machine builders, research organizations, universities, development institutions, and end industrial consumers. It is important to understand in advance which industries will use these raw materials, what requirements are imposed on product quality, and what production chains need to be built within the country.

The fifth is digitalization and industrial security. Modern projects for the extraction and processing of strategic metals should rely on digital modeling, automation, quality control, predictive maintenance, geological data, industrial cybersecurity, and environmental monitoring. This is especially important for the Far East, where many projects are implemented in remote and infrastructure-challenged territories.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and industry associations can play an important role in this work. It is necessary to form a coordinated business position on the development of strategic metals: what barriers prevent projects from being launched, what support measures are needed, where infrastructure development is required, what technological solutions are already ready for implementation, and which processing directions should be supported first of all.

For the Far East, this agenda is of special importance. The macroregion can become not only a source of raw materials, but also a platform for building new industrial chains connected to high-tech industries. This approach aligns with the objectives of technological sovereignty and long-term territorial development.

People stay where there is not a temporary project, but a long-term industrial outlook. Strategic metals can become one such pillar: new production facilities, service companies, engineering schools, educational programs, jobs, and regional specialization can form around them.

Today, the Far East is not only a territory of subsoil resources. It is a space where Russia can build a new model for working with strategic raw materials: from geological exploration and extraction to processing, industrial cooperation, technological development, and the creation of value added within the country.

It is precisely this approach that will make it possible to turn the Far East’s mineral resource potential into a real foundation for Russia’s industrial and technological sovereignty.