Metal production clusters in the Murmansk region and Yakutia became the first projects applying for participation in the program for the integrated development of the Arctic and the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor (TTK). Both require enormous investments: in the Murmansk region this is a railway junction worth 2.7 trillion rubles, in Yakutia – the Mohe-Naiba railway and a floating nuclear power plant. For financing, it is proposed to create consortia with domestic and friendly foreign companies and provide subsidies from the regions in exchange for shares of project operators.
The first projects applying for participation in the program for the integrated development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation and the Third Transport Ring turned out to be very large-scale, as follows from the discussion at the meeting of the State Council Commission on the Northern Sea Route and the Arctic during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. On behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the government, the Maritime Collegium and the State Council commission must form a list of interrelated projects, determine the sequence of their implementation, present financial, economic and organizational models by August 31, and the project itself by November 15.
Steel processing
IN Murmansk regionsaid Alexander Galushka, president of the Crystal of Growth Foundation, it is proposed to create metallurgical clusterat the first stage – the development of a deposit containing almost 19% of chromium reserves in the Russian Federation. Mr. Galushka did not name the site. We are apparently talking about the Sopcheozerskoye field with C1 balance reserves of 4.55 million tons as of October 2024. On the basis of this deposit, it is proposed to create ferrochrome production and form a vertically integrated chain of “chrome concentrate—ferrochrome—stainless steel.”
The second stage, says Alexander Galushka, is the creation of production of stainless and special steels using chromium, titanium, vanadium, nickel, etc. For this, it is planned to develop the South-Eastern Gremyakha deposit, which contains reserves of titanium, iron and vanadium, he explains. At the third stage, it is planned to create a center for processing rare and rare earth metals (REM) on the basis of the Alluive site of the Lovozero deposit, creating production of a heavy group of REMs – niobium, tantalum and zirconium. The final stage is the creation of production facilities for materials for new energy and batteries.
Now, Mr. Galushka said, the development of a financial and economic model of the metallurgical cluster is being completed, on the basis of which an investment model will be developed and investors will be attracted, both Russian and foreign. He did not give Kommersant’s rating.
But for this cluster, says Alexander Galushka, the development of the Murmansk Transport Hub (MTU) is necessary, namely a large-scale modernization of railway tracks worth 2.7 trillion rubles. with the development of the Volkhovstroy-Murmansk, Vykhodnoy-Lavna directions and approaches from the North-West, the Urals and Siberia. Mr. Galushka emphasized that the complex project should be built primarily on extra-budgetary sources of funding. Neither federal sources nor the investment program of Russian Railways, he says, are obviously capable of ensuring the formation of such projects, and a transition to such forms as concession, consortium, etc., including with the participation of friendly countries, is necessary. “Now we are already working on the formation of such a model,” said Mr. Galushka, noting the interest in the first stage of MTU development on the part of the VIS group. At the same time, he added, negotiations have begun with China’s largest railway construction companies CRCC and CREC. Their function remains to be discussed, he told Kommersant.
The second project is related to the gasification of the Murmansk region and the construction of the Volkhov-Murmansk gas pipeline until 2030. Gasification, according to Mr. Galushka, will create the basis for the production of mineral fertilizers and marine fuel in the Murmansk region.
A cluster for the production of stainless steel in Murmansk is an interesting idea, but implementation can be very difficult, believes Maxim Shaposhnikov, advisor to the manager of the Industrial Code fund, recalling the fate of the Tikhvin ferroalloy plant, which was built poorly, operated at a loss and burned down. The reason is competition with the Chelyabinsk Electrometallurgical Plant, which uses Kazakhstani raw materials and fully covers domestic needs, he explains. In addition, it would be wrong to develop such a project without the Russian Stainless Steel Company, which has plans to build a stainless steel workshop, Mr. Shaposhnikov believes. Mining of rare earth metals in the region is carried out at the Lovozersky GOK, so expanding production at nearby deposits can be successful, thinks Maxim Shaposhnikov. However, he adds, now the development of the industry is limited by processing restrictions.
Tin approaches
IN Yakutiaaccording to Mr. Galushka, the creation of tin industrial cluster. A financial and economic model has been created; he also did not name the cost of the project. As Permanent Representative of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) under the President Andrei Fedotov explained to Kommersant, we are talking about the development of the Deputy tin deposit.
According to Mr. Galushka, for the development of the cluster it is necessary to provide energy; according to calculations, the most effective option is the construction of a floating nuclear power plant. The second issue is logistics, we are talking about the creation of an international transport corridor Mohe-Naiba (length – more than 3 thousand km). He notes that the Chinese side estimates the cargo flow at 15 million tons, while the infrastructure on its territory is expected to be 40 million tons.
According to Andrei Fedotov, this corridor has already been largely formed. “The Zhatai shipyard, the first stage of which we launched, can produce river-sea vessels of the fourth and fifth Arctic classes,” he says. “And the Yakutia Railways is already working on the Jalinda-Mohe road-rail border crossing; only 70 km of road remains to be built there. Therefore, we have built this corridor along its entire length, but it was built using the Lena River for navigation.”
But along the Lena the volume of transportation is 7–8 million tons, within 10 million, explains Mr. Fedotov. Therefore, it is necessary to build a railway.
The construction of a railway to Naiba, says Andrey Fedotov, is a development of the idea of building a railway to Magadan. The road project to Magadan has “difficult economics because cargo only goes one way, from the west.” But a concept has emerged in which Magadan is not a point of arrival for cargo from the mainland, but an entry point from the Pacific Ocean for cargo from countries other than China, for example, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. In this regard, from an economic point of view, it may be an interesting route in which the railway from Nizhny Bestyakh to Magadan in the Khandyga region can branch along the Yana to the north. In this option, it is possible to bypass the difficult eastern section of the Northern Sea Route and reach the Arctic, explains Andrei Fedotov.
According to Mr. Fedorov, the Crystal of Growth Foundation has become interested in the development of critical metals.
So, in the Oleneksky district this is the Buranny deposit. The Kyuchusskoe deposit, the largest deposit of ore gold in the country, is also located here, and the Seligdar gold mining company will be the main customer for transportation from its Kyuchus through Naiba and has already entered the consortium, says Andrey Fedorov.
Also in Yakutia, Alexander Galushka said, it is planned to create a new aviation complex serving the Arctic territory. According to him, the basis will be Yakutia Airlines, Polar Airlines and Yakutsk Airport in partnership with Rostec. “It’s not just about transportation—in the new model, the aviation complex becomes the largest customer of Russian aviation equipment for operation in Arctic conditions,” he says.
Yuri TrutnevDeputy Prime Minister, Presidential Envoy to the Far East, in April:
“The total volume of investments planned in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation in the next ten years exceeds 30 trillion rubles.”
Where’s the money?
As for financing, recalls the head of the Russian Presidential Administration for National Maritime Policy, Sergei Vakhrukov, the President has set the task of considering the creation of international consortiums with friendly countries. “These are Vietnam, Oman, and Egypt – those countries that are showing a very active interest in the development of the transport corridor,” he noted. A mechanism for a regional capitalization option is also being developed: the region provides subsidies, tax breaks, etc. in exchange for shares of the company after it goes public. Deputy head of the Ministry of Finance Ivan Chebeskov said at the meeting that about 500 companies are potentially ready to exit. “Together with the Crystal of Growth fund, we are working on a mechanism for using subsidies and assistance from entities on a repayable basis, so that the region has an interest in helping companies,” he said, clarifying that we are not talking about control; the format of preferred shares can be used.
“There is no confidence in the development of the tin cluster yet,” says Maxim Shaposhnikov. “We see Seligdar’s many years of attempts to develop production, and so far the tin production segment remains unprofitable for the most part.” The development of transport corridors from Yakutia towards China is certainly a necessary thing, the expert continues, but its implementation is extremely complicated by the lack and high cost of resources. “But the fact that these issues are being raised in the public space already gives us hope for their implementation under more favorable conditions,” he notes.
