Experts discuss Russia's potential for mining rare earth metals on the Moon

Russia plans to resume exploration of the Moon in 2016, assuming a manned flight in the future. Experts believe that the ultimate goal of Earth satellite exploration is the mining of rare earths used in a variety of industries, including green technology, defense systems and consumer electronics.

The Luna-25 project aims to extract fragments of the surface and deliver them to Earth, which could lead to a huge breakthrough, since the chemical composition of celestial bodies remains a mystery to scientists.

The head of the Department of Moon and Planetary Research, Vladislav Shevchenko, believes that the lunar surface is rich in rare earth metals. He sees the exploration of the moon as a solution to the current shortage of rare earth metals, the production of which is controlled by China, and sees supply from space as potentially more cost-effective than mining these metals on Earth.

China, which once controlled 97 percent of the world's trade in these elements, is gradually losing its market dominance. China Minmetals, the largest state-owned company in the sector, recently said that the country's rare earths market share could drop to 65 percent.

Experts point out that just in case the lunar plans do not go, the Urals are preparing to launch rare earth products in 2017, using new technology to extract the desired elements from uranium ore. To implement this project in September, the government allocated $ 7.8 million to the Ural Federal University, and another $ 9.3 million will be financed by the Moscow company ZAO Energeticheskie Projects, a partner of the university.