Russian miner Nornickel held initial consultations with the indigenous communities in the villages of Lovozero and Krasnoshchelye in Russia’s northwest region of Murmansk in view of the looming start of the Kolmozerskoye lithium mining project, Kallanish notes.

The meeting gathered the representatives of Saami, Nenets, and Komi people, as well as government officials, Russia’s nuclear corporation Rosatom and independent experts on indigenous peoples’ rights.

In April, Nornickel and Rosatom signed an agreement of intent to implement joint projects spanning the development of the lithium deposit and further processing of lithium raw materials. Kolmozerskoye is the largest (18.9% of domestic reserves) and most promising untapped Russian lithium ore deposit and is currently unallocated.

Geological study of the Kolmozerskoye deposit was carried out in the 1950s, and most of the data needs to be verified.

The parties also discussed basic approaches to ethnographic and sociological research. The company confirmed its intention to collect and verify all possible information on the subjects, nature and scale of traditional trades, sacred sites and burials, as well as identify potentially affected people, and make detailed maps of the area. The research will be carried out with the involvement of leading scientific institutions and in cooperation with indigenous peoples, the miner claims.

“It is important for the company to consider and minimise all possible negative impacts for the indigenous peoples of the region,” says Nornickel’s vice president Andrey Grachev. “There is likely to be a lot of work to discuss the project and reach agreement with the Saami, Nenets and Komi reindeer herders, who could potentially be affected by the project.”

Lithium mining will help set up the first domestic production of lithium-containing products, as well as the production of lithium-ion traction batteries, the company adds. Thus, by complementing each other’s capabilities and assets, cooperation between Rosatom and Nornickel will accelerate the construction of a full-cycle energy storage industry in Russia.