Scientific publications

This article provides a brief overview and analysis of the global and Russian lithium and rare earth metal (REE) mineral resource base. Russia holds global leadership in REE reserves and resources, but lacks modern technological production facilities for extracting and separating these metals in pure form. While known lithium reserves are lower, the country can realistically enlarge its mineral resource base. The article presents the main industrial types of deposits of these high-tech metals and demonstrates their critical importance to the global and Russian economies. It also describes the uses of lithium and REE and their indispensability in many industries, including automotive, computer, space, and medical technologies, the defense industry, and household appliances. The article reports the results of metallogenic studies of these metals in the Republic of Karelia, where several promising lithium occurrences associated with rare-metal LCT pegmatites with spodumene and lepidolite (the Iokiranta, Hautavaara, and North Karelian pegmatite fields) are known, as well as numerous REE mineralization sites beyond the main global industrial types of these metals. Conclusions are drawn regarding Karelia's industrial potential for lithium (LCT pegmatites, Li-F granites, and taeniolite associated with U-Au-Pt-V deposits) and the extremely low probability of finding promising REE occurrences within its territory.