Russia offers African countries mineral resource digitization know-how
ST. PETERSBURG. July 31 (Interfax) - Russia's federal mineral resources agency, Rosnedra is prepared to share its know-how in digitization of mineral resource use with the geological services of African countries, agency head Yevgeny Petrov said at the Geological Exploration and Mining of Mineral Resources - Russian Technology for Africa session at the Russia-Africa summit.
He said cooperation on geology and resource use between Russia and African countries is developing within the context of intergovernmental commissions, and work on organizing cooperation with more than ten African countries is in the active phase.
There is potential for partnership in the implementation of national and private investment programs to renew mineral resource reserves, he said. This could involve work at all stages of geological prospecting, exploration and assessment, with Russian mining companies brought in to subsequently develop identified deposits.
Russia has considerable experience and potential to develop cooperation and share its competencies, including in the area of digitization, Petrov said. Rosnedra has completely transitioned to digital circulation of geological information and licensing, and implementing these initiatives has made it possible to arrive at a transparent mechanism for cooperation between state companies and resource users, he said.
"We have begun to share this experience with our African colleagues so that they have full-scale mechanisms to manage their own resource base, taxation and planning of work. Specifically, we created the Innovative Software Technology Park platform. This platform is an effective instrument for promoting new technologies in production and it is very easily scalable on the African continent," Petrov said.
This refers to software technology for the registry of all used technologies by types of geological exploration, phases and stages of exploration and mining at deposits with specific examples of fieldwork.