Will Russia be engulfed by a “gold rush”?

The government of the Russian Federation has approved a bill allowing individuals to mine gold in the Far East and the Arctic, and after three years – throughout Russia. Is it worth thinking about gold mining, Anton Kravtsov, financial expert of the Finmir marketplace, told Moskovskaya Pravda.

Now the opportunity to mine gold is allowed only to legal entities that have the appropriate license. Now the authorities are going to pilot gold mining to private individuals.

“According to the bill, an individual can receive a diligent plot of no more than ten hectares free of charge by registering online as an individual entrepreneur,” said Anton Kravtsov.

The main regions where gold has historically been mined are the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Urals, Chukotka, the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Magadan Region. It is predicted that over three years, local authorities in the Far East and the Arctic will receive additional budget revenues from the legalization of gold mining by private individuals in the amount of 15-30 billion rubles and provide jobs for 10,000 people.

According to the expert, the bill was also approved because it is unprofitable for large gold mining companies to operate in areas with relatively small gold reserves. Therefore, it was decided to involve individual entrepreneurs in gold mining. For them, the maximum volume of gold production for the entire period of work is set at 30 kilograms.

“Of course, the law on diligent activity will create an influx of people who want to“ try their luck ”at gold mining, but most likely, at first there will be few of them, since the scheme of interaction between individual entrepreneurs and regional authorities has not yet been worked out,” Anton Kravtsov believes.

In addition, in his opinion, many entrepreneurs who have been mining gold illegally for a long time will not immediately begin to officially register, since there are a number of restrictions provided for by the bill, entailing a decrease in their profits.

In particular, the bill prohibits the removal of a layer of earth deeper than 5 meters, the use of blasting and chemical methods of gold mining, and also obliges to keep records, video and photograph the site where the work is being carried out, and after the cessation of activity, to restore the site. However, it is still unclear how the authorities will exercise control over the observance of all these rules.

In general, it’s too early to choose a suitable site and pack your backpacks. But you can already think about a new opportunity to earn money. Moreover, the demand for gold is growing, which means that its value will also probably increase.

Alena Bodrienko.

Photo from site mediaex.ru