Russia's federal agency for natural resource use (Rosnedra) plans in 2011-2015 to give licenses for the development of 41 iron ore deposits with total reserves of 16.6 billion mt, Rosnedra chief Anatoly Ledovskikh said on July 23, at a meeting chaired by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Chelyabinsk region regarding the country's steel industry.
This will increase the raw material potential of the country's mining and smelting industry by 23 percent and will double the production of mineral raw materials for steelmakers, Mr. Ledovskikh said.
In addition, in the coming years Russian mining companies will also receive from the government licenses for the development of 31 coking coal deposits with total reserves of 80.5 billion mt.
According to Mr. Ledovskikh, Rosnedra has already prepared for the licensing of six areas in the Ulug-Khem coal basin in Russia's Tuva Republic, the reserves of which are estimated at 5 billion mt of coal. In particular, on September 21 this year, Rosnedra plans to carry out the tender for coal mining in the area of Central Ulug-Khem basin, and on October 20 it plans to hold a tender for the right to develop and mine coal in the area of East-West Ulug-Khem basin.