Problems of the Development of the Mineral and Raw-Material Base of High-Tech Industry in Russia

This article considers the issue of Russia's self-sufficiency in import-dependent types (including critical ones) of strategic mineral raw materials. It is shown that, in recent years, the Government of Russia has been paying much attention to the development of the mineral-resource base (MRB) of strategic raw materials: in 2018, the "Strategy for the Development of the MRB of the Russian Federation until 2035" was approved, and in 2022 the "List of the Main Types of Strategic Mineral Raw Materials (SMRMs)" was published, after having been updated for the first time in 26 years. The article notes that self-sufficiency in SMRMs has been achieved for most items of the List. For 17 of the points in the List, the industry of the Russian Federation is highly dependent on imports; for some points, this dependence reaches 100%. Despite this, many domestic SMRM deposits that are critically dependent on imports are not developed due to low profitability. The analysis performed in the article shows that Russia can completely replace the import of mineral raw materials through the development of its own MRB of SMRMs. Self-sufficiency can be achieved most rapidly through the development of alluvial deposits, weathering crusts and recycling.