OREANDA-NEWS  The total reserves of 29 types of rare metals in Russia amount to 658 million tons, and if we talk about only 15 of them, which belong to the rare earth category, they are accounted for in the amount of 28.5 million tons. This is reported by TASS with reference to data from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The ministry stressed that this volume is sufficient for the current needs of the economy and for the long term. All available deposits are complex, meaning the ore contains several types of minerals.

Rare earth metals (REM) include samarium, yttrium, lutetium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, praseodymium, thulium, lanthanum, cerium, ytterbium, terbium, neodymium, gadolinium, europium and promethium. The remaining 14 rare but not uncommon minerals are lithium, rubidium, caesium, beryllium, scandium, indium, gallium, germanium, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, and rhenium.

On the eve of February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on the Russian Arctic that Moscow and Washington could cooperate in the development of Russian deposits. According to him, the Russian authorities would be happy to see American companies if they show interest in working together.