Russian billionaire Potanin eyes rare earth metals exploration

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, CEO and shareholder of metals giant Nornickel, said on Tuesday he is considering projects in rare earths, noting that reserves in Russia and Russian-controlled Eastern Ukraine have been poorly studied.

Rare earths and other critical metals, essential for high-tech industries, have gained global attention in recent months due to U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to counter China's dominance in the sector.

"Many deposits within our territory and the new Russian territories are inadequately explored. Many geological studies and their results were lost after the Soviet Union," Potanin told reporters.

"Therefore, all of this needs to be restored now. We are contemplating and working on it," he added. It was not immediately clear from Potanin's remarks whether Nornickel would be involved in such projects.

President Vladimir Putin has offered the U.S. the opportunity, under a future economic deal, to jointly explore Russia's rare earth metal deposits, which he claims are more extensive than those of Ukraine.

Potanin emphasized that due to the small size of many deposits and challenging exploration conditions, Russian firms will need partners who can provide the necessary technology.

"Since these are complex projects, technological support from various partners would be beneficial for us," Potanin said.

Nornickel, a major global producer of refined nickel and palladium, currently does not hold any licenses for rare earth metals exploration.

(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova and Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Kim Coghill)