Given the current policy of import substitution, the issues of extracting these metals in Russia are very relevant, as they are used in electronics, military and space industries.
Currently, tungsten, molybdenum and lithium are mainly mined abroad. For example, South America is currently the main global supplier of lithium, but the Irkutsk Region also has sources of this raw material, and the institute's employees are developing innovative technologies for its production. Lithium is used to make batteries for electric vehicles, used in household appliances and various gadgets.
Tungsten and molybdenum were once mined in Russia, but now these raw materials are also purchased abroad. But the deposits remained and, according to Arkady Koblov, Head of the Mineral Processing Department at Irgiredmet, the institute's task is to develop an optimal technology for producing these materials in order to use them in the future in Russia.
There are also gold-uranium deposits in Russia and the CIS countries, but now these components are mined separately. Irkutsk scientists have developed a new technology that makes it possible to simultaneously extract gold and uranium from the subsoil. It has already undergone laboratory tests and several patents have been created.
“The state will be able to simultaneously obtain two valuable components from this deposit — uranium and gold. Instead of stretching it out for decades. Because the same uranium deposits have been developed for decades and only then can gold, for example, be extracted from there. And we suggest extracting both gold and uranium at the same time. And now we are working on semi-industrial tests of this technology,” said Evgeny Musin, Deputy General Director for Research at Irgiredmet.
