TASS, June 13. /TASS/. Development of the Tomtor deposit of rare-earth metals in Yakutia will offer about 300 jobs at the mining plant only, Yakutia’s Minister of Industry and Geology Maxim Tereshchenko told TASS.
"At the mining plant only, the number of new jobs may be about 300, or 500 jobs including jobs in car transportation," he said.
"We connect the Tomtor deposit’s development with solving of the local unemployment problem and with development of local infrastructures," the minister told TASS. "Moreover, it will be a stimulus for implementation of other projects."
The deposit’s development will begin in the fourth quarter of 2021, and all preparatory works, including geology exploration, ecology, geo-physics, geo-cryology and hydro-geology studies, have been completed. State analysis, feasibility reports and the resources’ estimation at the Buranny field are ready.
The Tomtor deposit’s projected resources are 154 million tonnes of ore with high concentration of ten rare-earth metals’ oxides, including of niobium, terbium, yttrium and scandium. The resources are about 30 million tonnes of ore and 82,000 tonnes of monazite concentrate. The rare-earth metals’ oxides’ concentration in the ore is among the world’s highest - 10%, of niobium oxide - 4.5%.
Earlier, Rostec forecasted necessary investments in the deposit’s development at $560 million. The company said in an annual report, the production is due to begin there in the 2020s.