Indian cos mull rare metal projects in Russia, including Tomtor

MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - Indian companies are thinking of joining rare earth metal mining projects in Russia, including at the Tomtor deposit in Yakutia.

The collaboration began with an interest in Russian technologies. "But as the dialogue evolves, enquiries are being made for Indian companies to come to us to develop our mineral base," Konstantin Ivanovskikh, Deputy Director for Science and Innovation at the Giredmet Institute, told reporters on the sidelines of the Redmet-2026 (Rare Metals-2026) congress. "In other words, there is interest in joining rare metal projects in Russia," he said.

"India is short on heavy rare earth elements, which are lanthanides, from gadolinium to lutetium. Russia has deposits, like the Tomtor deposit, where these elements are abundant," Ivanovskikh said. "And developing these deposits requires a lot of investment and a large-scale projects. So Indian partners are willing to come onboard, and we are currently receiving enquiries. We are currently trying to set up contact between them and our mineral license holders to develop these projects," he said.

Ivanovskikh said the main deposits of interest to Indian partners were Tomtor as well as those planned for development within the Angara-Yenisei cluster in Eastern Siberia, and, more generally, rare metal deposits with high heavy rare earth content.

Indian investors are interested in Tomtor as a source of heavy rare earth elements, said Sarada Bhushan Mohanty, head of India Rare Earth Limited. However, the Indian side would first like to obtain samples and conduct metallurgical testing.

India wants to produce 6,000 tonnes of magnets per year, which will require the appropriate resource base, said Deependra Singh, head of the Rare Earth Association of India. "India and Russia have historically had good relations, and Indian industry will definitely look to Russia for resources," he said. "But this is a long process. We need to be patient."