May 3 (Reuters) - Russia expects to eliminate its dependence on imports of 12 scarce types of metals including lithium and rare earths by 2030, state news TASS agency reported on Friday.
Yevgeny Petrov, the head of the Federal Subsurface Resources Agency, or Rosnedra, told TASS, that the other minerals included niobium, tantalum, zirconium, and manganese.
"As a result of a set of measures taken, by 2030 we expect to eliminate dependence on imports for 12 scarce types of raw materials," Petrov told TASS.
"Part of the production will be export-oriented."
Russia has not mined lithium so far, which is used in the nuclear power industry and for energy storage systems and electric vehicle batteries.
But "accelerated development of lithium ore mining projects" has started at several deposits, according to a statement posted on the website of Rosatom, Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation.
Russia's internal demand for lithium is at about 400 to 700 metric tons per year, Rosatom estimated. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Jamie Freed)
