MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Companies from the United States should be attracted to exploration of rare earth metals (REM) in the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone, Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Presidential Academy (RANEPA), the Expert Council's Coordinator at the PORA Arctic Development Project Office Alexander Vorotnikov told TASS.
"The Russian Arctic is rather poorly studied in terms of geology, and, undoubtedly, it is necessary to increase significantly its geological study to know about all the blind spots, especially since modern technologies allow doing this. Here, it is possible to attract companies from the US. Or at least to use their technology, trained personnel and equipment," he said.
In his opinion, the public-private partnership (PPP) mechanism could be used in implement those projects. "It is possible to use PPP by paying with raw materials and products obtained in the projects' implementation," he continued. "Moreover, the US is interested in such projects."
All currently known REM deposits are located mainly in two regions of the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone - in the Murmansk Region and in Yakutia. By far, mining is carried out only in the Murmansk Region, he said.
Earlier, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Russia is a global undisputed leader in REM reserves, adding in the rare earth metals industry the country would be happy to work with any foreign partners, including American ones.