Novaya Zemlya: island resources for continental Russia

Novaya Zemlya is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean between the Barents and Kara Seas, it consists of two large (North and South) and many small islands. It is worth noting that at the moment deposits of various minerals (lead, zinc, silver, etc.) have been explored on Novaya Zemlya. Their extraction could have a beneficial effect on the socio-economic development of the archipelago, but this process is hampered by difficult climatic conditions and the special status of Novaya Zemlya.

In the nineties of the last century, specialists from the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Polar Marine Geological Expedition” on the territory of Novaya Zemlya, as a result of scientific research, discovered the Bezymyansky ore-polymetallic cluster, which received its name from the river of the same name flowing nearby. It includes the Pavlovsk silver-containing lead-zinc pyrite deposit, which currently has the most realistic prospects for effective development. It is also necessary to emphasize that it is the only accumulation of the node’s resources with approved balance reserves of minerals (zinc - 1967 thousand tons, lead - 453 thousand tons, silver - 672 tons), taking into account the forecast characteristics, one of the five largest such deposits in the Russian Federation.



A large industrial project to create a mining production complex on the territory of the Pavlovskoye deposit is being jointly implemented by First Mining Company JSC (holds a license for the right to use this subsoil plot and is a structural division of the state corporation Rosatom) and Atomredmetzoloto JSC (also a structure of Rosatom"). In 2016, the General Director of the First Mining Company, Alexander Lukin, stated that the first thing within the framework of this project would be the construction of a mining and processing plant, a mooring complex, a rotation camp for personnel for 500 people and a dump storage facility. Construction was expected to begin in 2019. The government of the Arkhangelsk region then clarified that it was planned to invest from 12 to 14 billion rubles in the development of the Pavlovskoye field (by 2017, the estimate of financial investments in the implementation of the project increased to 18,5 billion rubles), and the capacity of the new enterprise by 2021 was to amount to 2,5 million tons of ore per year.

Also in 2017, the head of the Arkhangelsk region, Igor Orlov, and the general director of Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, entered into an important agreement, one of the points of which was the implementation by the state corporation of a mining project to develop the above-mentioned deposit. Its result was supposed to be the emergence of a new industrial cluster, in the functioning of which various enterprises of the Arkhangelsk region would be involved, which would give a new economic impetus for the development of the region. We should not forget about the tax revenues that the local budget can receive from additional economic activities. It was planned to implement the provisions of the agreement by 2022.

In addition, in 2018, First Mining Company JSC began engineering surveys related to the construction of a port complex for the needs of the Pavlovskoye deposit in the Bezymyannaya Bay area. The total investment required to put the port complex into operation was estimated at 6 billion rubles. It was reported that the estimated cargo turnover of the new facility will be 0,5 million tons per year; such characteristics should be sufficient to ensure uninterrupted export of products produced at the new mining and processing plant for the first time. The new complex will include two berths and other infrastructure facilities. Experts believe that the development of a civil port on Novaya Zemlya will provide new opportunities for other sectors of the economy. Thus, Arctic char spawns in the inland waters of the archipelago, which can be in great demand on the Russian and world markets.

In 2020, First Mining Company entered into a preliminary agreement with a large Finnish company, Metso Outotec, to design a floating processing plant. The organization had to take an active part in its installation and commissioning. In the spring of 2022, due to serious geopolitical changes, the Finnish company decided to end work with domestic clients and wind down its business in the Russian Federation. Later it became known that construction and installation work at the Pavlovskoye deposit was postponed from May 2022 to 2023, and already in the spring of this year information appeared that Russia decided to abandon the floating version of the mining and processing plant. The departure of Metso Outotec from the project could have a very negative impact on existing industrial prospects, because the company from Finland is a world leader in the field of technical solutions that are used in the mineral processing industries. The most interesting thing is that at the moment there are still no reports about the postponement of the commissioning of the planned facilities of the Pavlovsk field.

I would also like to draw attention to the fact that the infrastructural development of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the foreseeable future may become the basis for the extraction of resources at the well-known Shtokman gas condensate field, which is one of the largest in the world and is located just 300 kilometers from Novaya Zemlya. Currently, the implementation of a large LNG project on its basis has been postponed until 2035. Another important factor indicating the importance of the archipelago in modern realities can be considered the routes of the Northern Sea Route passing near Novaya Zemlya. In the conditions of transport isolation in Russia, great hopes are pinned on this route. The weak point of the archipelago may be its special status. Most of this territory is closed; a special pass is required to visit it; all this creates additional administrative difficulties for private companies when implementing investment projects in the archipelago.

In conclusion, I would like to add that northern nature is extremely vulnerable; this fact must be taken into account when carrying out any large-scale work on Novaya Zemlya. Their implementation requires exceptional care and regular interaction with the scientific community. Only under such conditions will it be possible to organize both economically efficient and environmentally sound resource extraction here.