MOSCOW, July 30 (RAPSI) – Russia's natural resources ministry has submitted a bill to the government aimed at protecting rights of foreign companies on developing strategic deposits they discover in Russia, Vedomosti newspaper reported on Thursday, citing Minister Sergei Donskoi’s letter.

According to the letter, a foreign mineral deposit development company could request a provisional government exploration and development permit if it has no tax or duty arrears, and has the required professional, financial and technical capability. A provisional approval would be issued for a period of three years. If the permit holder discovers a strategic deposit, he would be able to continue with the exploration and development of the site without an additional permit. 

Strategic deposits are defined as fields with recoverable reserves of more than 70 million metric tons of oil, over 50 bcm of natural gas, over 50 tons of gold or over 500,000 tons of copper. 

The bill would ensure that the foreign company that discovers a deposit would also have the right to develop it, Donskoi said. Mineral developers will only be interested in “making a substantial investment in completing the exploration and assessment cycle” if they have “firm guarantees” that they will be allowed to continue developing these projects, the newspaper writes.

The bill has been coordinated with the Defense Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Economic Development Ministry and the natural resources regulator Rosprirodnadzor. 

Vedomosti writes that foreign companies seldom discover large oil or gas fields in Russia. A recent example is the Nizhnechutinskoye deposit in the Arctic discovered by UK Timan Oil & Gas in 2008.