Five trends for the mining industry in 2024

What key trends can be highlighted in mining in Russia? Staff shortage, unmanned technologies, import substitution and other trends in the Russian mining industry.

Production at the level of previous years

The forecast of the Ministry of Energy on coal production remains unchanged - in 2024 it is planned to produce about 440 million tons. In this case there will be no changes - last year Russia produced 438 million tons of coal. In terms of precious metals, the dynamics may even be positive. For example, this year Yakutia plans to mine 200 tons of silver, which is 37 tons more than a year earlier. Subsoil users in the Magadan region expect to increase gold production by 12%, up to 53.6 tons.

Oil production in 2024 is forecasted at the level of 505-515 million tons - this estimate was given by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on June 6 at the SPIEF. At the end of last year, oil production amounted to 530.6 million tons. The realization of the forecast will mean a slight decrease in production - by 3-5%. As for gas production, the forecast presented in September 2023 - 666.7 billion cubic meters (636.7 billion cubic meters of gas was produced last year) remained in force for 2024.

No-human technologies for safety and security

The main goal of using unmanned technologies is to protect the life and health of employees, especially those involved in mining, underground mining and other hazardous operations. However, robotization, automation of production processes also helps to increase the efficiency of processes - their accuracy and speed of execution.

“One of the most important tasks today is to get people out of the underground works. This not only meets the demands of the labor market, but also will fundamentally change the cost structure of mining companies and make their production processes more efficient“ says Alexey Dushin, Rector of UGGU.

Leading companies have already started using mine and quarry self-propelled equipment: dump trucks, bulldozers, excavators and others. Self-propelled drilling rigs are a good help in geological exploration. One of the successful examples of using unmanned technologies is Nornickel's case at the Skalisty mine. Due to restrictions on the presence of workers in the mine during the BWR, the mine was idle for 1.5 hours every day. The use of unmanned dump trucks allowed the company to improve not only safety but also efficiency - the amount of ore transported increased by 20,000 tons annually.

Workforce shortage persists

It is not the first year that the mining industry has been experiencing staff shortage. It is caused by a number of reasons - the demographic hole of the 1990s, the relatively low popularity of working professions among young people, and the active development of industry in the regions, which generates demand that exceeds supply. This is the case, for example, in the Far East:

“The Far East has been actively developing over the past 5-7 years. New production facilities have been launched and old enterprises have been modernized. And all this has led to a catastrophic shortage of talent in the region“ commented Fyodor Kirsanov, CEO of Atlas Mining.

In general, in the mining industry of Russia, according to the data of Alexey Dushin, Rector of UGGU, in 2023 there will be 68 thousand positions that will not be closed. Of these, 70% come from the Urals, Siberian and Far Eastern Federal District, where less than 26% of the country's population is concentrated.

Mining companies are trying to solve the problem of staff shortage in various ways: from improving working conditions, raising salaries and retaining staff to creating their own training centers and industrial tourism for schoolchildren. The federal project “Professionalitet”, which is designed to train personnel for industry enterprises, plays a major role in solving the issue.

More and more women in the mining industry

The shortage of workers and the global trend towards gender equality is leading to more and more women entering the industry. Currently, according to Victoria Vasilieva - Director of Public Relations at Polyus PJSC, women occupy 30% of middle and top level positions in heavy industry. In 2023, the share of their resumes in the field of raw materials extraction increased by 10%, the press service of HeadHunter Siberia reported.

Today, women also work in positions that used to be considered exclusively male. For example, the Petropavlovsk Group of Companies has a team of BelAZ drivers made up entirely of women.

In Russia, there are special projects designed to increase female representation in the mining industry. One of them is the “Talented Woman in Modern Industry” award, which has been running since 2021. It is organized by WIM Industries, the information partner of the MiningWorld Russia exhibition. This year, a record number of applications from 64 companies and 107 cities were submitted for participation in the award - 630, which is 40% more than in 2023.

Import substitution continues

As early as 2022, it became obvious that it would be very problematic to continue using equipment of familiar brands (Komatsu, Caterpillar, Liebherr, etc.) in the new conditions. The closure of Western markets, and along with it the cessation of supplies of equipment and components, forced to look for new solutions. Import substitution has become not just a preferred tactic, but a vital necessity.

Replacing foreign equipment with Russian equipment is one of the important trends in the mining industry. Over the last two years, domestic enterprises have significantly increased production volumes of mining and quarry equipment, components and spare parts, and opened new areas.

In 2024, new equipment innovations were presented at MiningWorld Russia. For example, Nevyansk Mining Machine Building Plant presented its own high-performance fan with low noise level. Elektrogorsk Metal Works (ELEMET) presented a novelty - a precipitation-filtering centrifuge. Several innovative developments - optical separator ERGA LuxSortica and magnetic drum separator ERGA BSM - were presented by ERGA. KAMAZ held the world premiere of a new dump truck Atlant 50. The company TEM Partner shared the novelty of the equipment, which was not produced in Russia before. The specialists brought to the exhibition an aeration unit for a 630 cubic meter large-volume flotation machine.

MiningWorld Russia - main exhibition of the industry

In 2024, MiningWorld Russia, the International Exhibition of Machinery and Equipment for Mining, Processing and Transportation of Minerals, was held for the 28th time. It was attended by 578 companies - industry leaders and promising enterprises. Compared to 2023, the exhibition area doubled from 16,000 square meters to 30,000 square meters.

8,410 specialists visited MiningWorld Russia 2024 to familiarize themselves with mining equipment and market trends. Visitors came from 75 regions of the Russian Federation and 32 countries. Every year, MiningWorld Russia reflects the state of the mining equipment market - the exhibition presents new products and the best solutions for mining, concentration and transportation of minerals.