Russia forced to import manganese. It has captured a colossal deposit and is starting to mine it
The Bolshe-Tokmak deposit, whose resources are estimated at 1.7 billion tons, is one of the five largest manganese deposits in the world. For comparison, the largest Russian deposits Usinskoye and Porozzinskoye, located in the Kemerovo Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai, respectively, have 127.7 million tons and 29.46 million tons of this raw material, respectively. Meanwhile, industrial manganese mining takes place only in Bashkortostan.
According to the Kommersant newspaper, the manganese content in the ore from Bołshe-Tokmak exceeds 25 percent, which is considered a very high level. It is estimated that the deposit can provide up to 1.7 million tons of manganese per year, while the national demand is 1.3 million tons. Enough for 100 years of operation.
An arms giant is behind manganese mining. The costs and risks are enormous
Reale Engineering Invest will be responsible for developing the deposit in the occupied part of Ukraine. It is known that over 25 percent its shares belong to a subsidiary of Rostiech, the state-owned arms giant. A mining and processing plant is already under construction nearby, which is expected to provide jobs for 3,000 people. people.
However, the implementation of the investment requires cleaning and drying the old workings, which increases the total cost of the project to 100 billion rubles. Its prospects are also uncertain due to the crisis in the Russian and global metallurgical industry and constant shelling in the occupied part of the Zaporizhia Oblast.
