Copper resources of the Russian Far East: situation, problems and prospects of development

Abstract

The Far East region disposes considerable reserves and resources of copper-ore raw materials to set up regional copper industry. In the Far East there are registered 23 copper deposits with over 5.9 million tons of proven copper reserves in total (about 5% of all Russian deposits). The most promising deposits are the gold-copper-porphyry deposits Malmyzhskoye and Peschanka and sulfide copper-nickel deposits, which also contain cobalt and platinoids, Kun-Manie and Shanuch.
Today the analysis of the Far Eastern copper resources development was done to provide the national industry and export. It has been concluded that because of the remoteness of the region it is necessary to develop intra-regional utilization of raw materials for final output. Upon that, special attention should be paid to a new structural organization and innovative technologies. The effective strategy of mineral resources utilization of copper can accelerate the development of the Far East Region and changing the geopolitical importance in the Eastern part of Russia.