As part of the development of cargo traffic on the Northern Sea Route (NSR), the departments will consider how to legally define the concept of a „cluster” of deposits, and also develop a mechanism for granting the right to subsoil plots in such clusters.

Such instructions are recorded in the minutes of the State Commission for the Arctic of June 23, which is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev. Interfax got acquainted with the text of the protocol. Trutnev’s press service confirmed that such instructions had been given.

The Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Rosnedra should work out the issue of a legislative definition of the concept of „cluster” and legislative regulation of the mechanism for granting the right to use a group of subsoil plots, the document says.

Also, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Rosnedra, by September 1, must submit to Rosatom data on the mineral resource base of solid minerals in the Arctic in order to assess the possibility of creating additional clusters of solid minerals. Then the Ministry of Natural Resources, Rosatom and the Ministry for the Development of the Far East must submit proposals to the government on the formation of clusters of mineral deposits in the Arctic by December 1, which can be provided by a single energy and logistics infrastructure along the Northern Sea Route.

In addition, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Rosnedra should submit to the government data on the growth of reserves for three groups of minerals defined by the Strategy for the Development of the Mineral Resource Base of Russia until 2035, and also prepare a report on the expanded reproduction of the main types of minerals.

The Ministry for the Development of the Far East, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources, Rosatom, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the government of Yakutia, by October 1, must develop and approve a comprehensive plan for the creation of the Kyuchus cluster of solid mineral deposits in the republic using electricity from the capacities of a low-power two-reactor nuclear power plant.

By August 1, the Ministry of Transport and Rosatom, together with the authorities of Yakutia, will submit proposals for dredging the Yana River, which is necessary for the development of the Kyuchus cluster and the construction of a low-capacity nuclear power plant in the village of Ust-Kuyga.