Global Sustainability

Is it possible to increase gold production? Or are we facing a metal shortage and, consequently, a rapid rise in its value?

The level of Russia’s trade turnover with African countries last year increased by 30% and amounted to about 25 billion dollars. According to expert forecasts, this figure may well double in 5 years, which will make the Sunny continent one of the largest trade and economic partners of our country.

Karin Kneissl, the head of the G.O.R.K.I. Center at SPbSU, who served as the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Austria from 2017 to 2019, gave an assembly lecture “Permanent Sovereignty over Resources: The Creation of OPEC” at the St. Petersburg Empress Catherine II Mining University. Rector Vladimir Litvinenko, introducing the guest to the audience, called her “a person who was not afraid to challenge the ideology that has become dominant in the European Union in recent years”.

According to the expert, resource independence can be achieved through the formation of new geological knowledge, as well as improving the quality level of training of engineers and scientific personnel.

The Academic Council of the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University has voted to nominate for the Russian Government Prize in Science and Technology 2024 a work dedicated to improving labor safety during the exploitation of deposits located at great depths.

A plant for the production of environmentally friendly hydrogen, which was being built near the German town of Heide, will not be put into operation. All work there has been permanently halted. This was announced last week, three years after the creation of the alliance ”H2 West Coast”, which was to realise this project, by its initiators from France, Denmark and Germany.

The Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug will develop professional standards for the industry, as well as mechanisms for effective implementation of innovations at mining and processing enterprises.

Researchers at the Colorado School of Mines - considered the best university in the world for the quality of mining training - have identified a paradox that threatens the sustainability of the entire human race. On the one hand, our civilization is consuming more and more resources. Moreover, the energy transition, that is, the massive adoption of renewable energy on a global scale, is only increasing the demand for many different metals.

New blocking compounds (crosslinkers) required for efficient operation of Kovykta gas condensate field have already passed pilot tests. Their introduction into production will make it possible to avoid problems when drilling wells, which arise due to the uncontrolled flow of brine. Salty groundwater disrupts circulation of drilling fluids, which leads to their absorption into the formation. Elimination of complications takes a lot of time and leads to decrease of production profitability.

По производственным и финансовым результатам мировых золотодобывающих компаний в уходящем 2022 году можно судить о том, что общий объём реализации драгоценного металла, как и выручка, сократились