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The Atomredmedzoloto mining subsidiary of Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom plans to start producing lithium compounds in both the Kola Peninsula and the Irkutsk region of Siberia.

Investment in lithium mining projects in Russia is estimated at over 50 billion roubles (€570 million). ARMZ does not identify where on the Kola Peninsula lithium mining is planned, but a well-known geological area with huge amounts of rich lithium spodumene pegmatites is the Kolmozero deposit, halfway between the Khibiny mountain plateau and the Barents Sea coast.

This deposit, which borders the large Murmansk Tundra State National Park, is located in the middle of Europe’s largest wilderness area, with no infrastructure such as roads or other means of transport.

Mining in remote locations is nothing new for Rosatom’s subsidiary. In Novaya Zemlya, in the Russian Arctic, excavations for zinc in the Pavlovsky mine are already in full swing, as previously reported by the Barents Observer.

ARMZ is also considering investing in lithium production overseas, buying shares in companies with mining rights in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.