Technological sovereignty of the country: development of the rare earth metals industry discussed at the National Centre RUSSIA

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A session entitled "Rare and Rare Earth Metals as the Basis of Industrial Technological Sovereignty" was held at the National Centre RUSSIA. The discussion took place as part of the 3rd International Forum of Advanced Materials, Chemistry and Technologies "AMTEXPO 2026", with the National Centre RUSSIA acting as a co-organiser. The development of the rare and rare earth metals industry is one of the initiatives under the national project "New Materials and Chemistry". Experts discussed ways to scale up the rapid extraction of rare metals in order to strengthen Russia’s own raw material base and technological sovereignty, as well as the ambition to become one of the leading players in the global rare metals market.

Deputy Director for Technological Development at the Rosatom State Corporation, Dmitry Ivanets, noted that "the connection between industry and science is the key to the successful implementation of any endeavour, especially one as important as the formation and development of the rare earth industry in the Russian Federation".

According to experts, Russia has a unique mineral resource base — one of the largest in the world — covering almost all types of rare metals, including lithium, beryllium, niobium, tantalum, titanium and zirconium, as well as rare earth metals such as scandium, vanadium and others. However, the potential for extracting these minerals has not yet been fully realised: their recovery with the production of finished commercial products is currently carried out at only a small number of deposits, for example at the Lovozero and Pavlovskoye sites.

"A federal project dedicated to the development of rare earth metals has been underway in Russia for the second year now. In 2026, a special support instrument will be introduced — a subsidy to compensate costs incurred by rare earth metal producers. Today, competition in global markets is extremely intense, and our task is to ensure that products manufactured, for example, at the Lovozero Mining and Processing Plant are as cost-effective and competitive as possible, first and foremost within the Russian Federation," said Konstantin Fedorov, Deputy Director of the Department for Metallurgy and Materials at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia.

Rare and rare earth metals are used across many areas of everyday life. For example, neodymium, dysprosium and terbium are used in the production of hard drives, smartphones, headphones and other electronic devices. These materials also play a major role in the manufacture of wind turbines, electric vehicles, engines, automotive braking systems, solar panels, lasers and radar systems. In addition, the chemical element gadolinium is used in medicine as a contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging.

Each production chain involving rare earth metals has been digitised and will include instruments of state support, as well as customs and financial regulation mechanisms. According to Konstantin Fedorov, the metallurgical industry faces the task of reducing import dependence to 48%. To achieve this goal, plans are in place to reach production volumes of 50,000 tonnes in large-scale output and 80,000 tonnes in small-scale output.

A number of private investors, together with the Rosatom and Rostec corporations, are preparing to launch complex projects aimed at reducing the raw material deficit. A project for the extraction of beryllium concentrate at the Yermakovskoye deposit in the Republic of Buryatia is at an advanced stage of readiness. The second phase will involve hydrometallurgical production of metallic beryllium, which is in demand in electronics, medicine and the nuclear industry. The launch of such projects has become possible thanks to support measures provided through the cluster investment platform.

In addition, the industry is tasked with creating 15 new facilities and modernising existing large-scale production sites to manufacture 65 critical products based on rare and rare earth metals. According to experts, this will significantly improve the efficiency of rare earth material extraction: in locations where, due to logistical and infrastructure constraints, only one material is currently extracted, it will become possible to obtain several at once.