Spending on exploration of Yakutia's Aldan cluster to total 3 bln rubles to 2028 - authorities

YAKUTSK. Feb 12 (Interfax) - Federal budget funding for geological exploration of the Aldan industrial cluster in Yakutia will total 3 billion rubles in the period to the end of 2027, the eastern Russian region's Industry and Geology Ministry reported.

The funding will be provided under the federal project Geology: Revival of a Legend, the ministry said, adding that the cluster includes the Aldan and Neryungri districts.

The Aldan cluster is a set of projects that have been included in the region's socioeconomic development strategy to 2032. They involve the development of mining and processing of gold, iron ore and apatite, and production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), ammonia and ammonium nitrate.

The concept for the cluster was developed by the Industry and Geology Ministry and investors and approved by Yakutia's leader in December 2024. It includes projects such as the modernization of the Kuranakh gold recovery plant, construction of the Samolazovskoye and Khvoinoye mines at the eponymous hardrock gold deposits, the development of the Sivaglinskoye iron ore deposit and the Elkonskoye, Tayezhnoye and Seligdarskoye deposits.

The Geology: Revival of a Legend federal project was developed by Russia's Natural Resources Ministry in 2021 to expand the country's mineral resource base and increase the exploration maturity of promising areas. The second phase of the project will begin in 2025. It was reported earlier that overall financing for the project could total 41 billion rubles in the next three years.