Socio-Economic and Environmental Challenges of Mining Industry in the Komi Republic

Mineral resources of the Komi Republic and the trends and dynamics of their development determine to a great degree the level of the regions' economic development. The Republic has significant reserves of oil, gas, coal, aluminum, chromium, manganese, titanium, rare metals, gold, barite, fluorite, and quartz raw materials. However, the region's mining industry is still in the process of formation, this fact makes it possible to foresee and handle major social and environmental issues that accompany mining activities. The analysis of global trends in the implementation of mining projects substantiates the necessity to build a positive reputation of mining companies for ensuring stable production and for solving social and economic problems of territories. The paper also determines staffing requirements of prospective mining enterprises and possible social risks. The authors substantiate the necessity to redistribute taxes and payments in favor of the areas where mining companies operate, and they propose ways of attracting investment in mining projects on the stage of exploration with the help of a flexible fiscal policy. The main environmental problems of perspective objects of mining complex development can include the concentration of hazardous emissions, discharges and waste and the aggravation of environmental impact. The transformation of living organisms is moving toward the reduction of species diversity, simplification and changing community structure due to the disappearance of sensitive and rare species. The assessment of environmental impact intensity, based on the point estimation of the correlation between existing anthropogenic load and environmental resistance, has shown that the levels are medium and high. Taking into consideration the increased anthropogenic load, it is necessary to determine restrictions of nature management during pre-investment stage, to set out in the license the overall admissible amount of land resources usage for the purposes of industrial infrastructure, conduct environmental impact assessment for the field in general and to restore the disturbed taiga and tundra ecosystems using scientifically grounded restoration methods.