Hot Spots MT 2/2023 · 17 associated beryllium, niobium and tantalum, critical strategic metals that do have numerous defence-related applications. Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources claimed that the Subarctic territory – including the Kola Peninsula and Polar Siberia – and the Russian Far East (part of the Circum-North Pacific mountain belts that separate the North Pacific from the eastern North Asian and western North American Cratons) – could be home to twice the volume of North America’s precious (gold, silver, platinum) and niobium/tantalum reserves. Seeking Alternatives Among the most critical materials for the defence sector, REE resources are widespread, however: some 527 occurrences of a specific genetic type – carbonatites – are known worldwide. They are closely associated with continental environments and generally related to large-scale, intra-plate fractures, grabens or rifts, rather than oceanic environments. African countries host 17 economically significant REE-enriched carbonatite complexes, some of them located in disputed areas in Uganda (Lolekek), Zambia (Nkombwa Hill) and the Democratic Republic of Kongo (Nirumba). Most of them remain largely unexploited. Besides REE and by-product niobium, the defence industry is highly dependent upon a great variety of other critical metals. Examples include germanium and indium (contained in flat screen displays and laptops), gallium and nickel. Laterite deposits, most of them located in developing countries in the Pacific Rim region and South America (e.g., Venezuela), provide roughly half of the world’s output of nickel and cobalt plus chromium. So-called nickel laterites typically occur in regions where prolonged weathering of ultramafic rocks (containing ferro-magnesian minerals) has occurred, favoured by warm conditions with abundant rainfall. According to a US Geological Survey (USGS) report entitled itself an inexhaustible source of income. The often-claimed Russia-China axis of convenience seems to be a “paper tiger” should Moscow’s ‘Arcticresource nationalism’ attempts to inflict an influence on the world prices of hydrocarbons and minerals. The Russian Federation is a major producer of PGMs. Mineable PGMs in association with nickel and copper are intimately confined to the socalled Noril’sk-Kharayelakh metallogenic zone in Polar Siberia. The four largest deposits in the region contain 75 % of Russian forecast platinoid resources of the most reliable category P1 (which corresponds to inferred resources of the CRIRSCO standard), or more than 600 metric tonnes, more than half of the nickel resources (0.85 million metric tonnes) and more than 40 % of copper resources (1.4 million metric tonnes). Until at least April or May 2022, deliveries of PGMs and nickel-based superalloys to the EU were continuing at a high, relative constant level. Next on Moscow’s agenda is the development of Arctic and Subarctic mineral resources that are indispensable for Russia and the world’s markets. REE form part of Russian policies in these regions. However, there is sparse information on Russian REE resources available to the public, the bulk of them (>70 %) are located in the Murmansk Region on the Kola Peninsula and are mainly confined to the Paleozoic Lovozero and Khibiny peralkaline complexes that are enriched in yttrium, heavy REE and zirconium. This Subarctic region is of imminent importance for Russia’s defence sector itself. According to Russian geologists, during the 1980s, when the yttrium demand exceeded its supplies, exploration for yttrium-rich REE deposits led to the discovery of zirconium and heavy REE-dominated resources that are associated with peralkaline syenitic (a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock) and granitic rocks. Some have Stefan Nitschke, Ph.D. (Geol./Geochem.) is Editor-in-Chief of Military Technology’s sister magazines Wehrtechnik and Naval Forces. The European Commission reviews the list of critical commodities for the European Union every three years: shown are the major supplier countries of critical raw materials to Europe in 2020; note that the European Union is an important global producer of some critical elements. (Map: European Commission) The F-35 JSF in production for the US and many allied nations is dependent upon titanium and rhenium supplies from China. (Photo: Lockheed Martin) f
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