OREANDA-NEWS. December 23, 2011. Two exhibitions Karelian Stone and Roads of Karelia took place in Petrozavodsk on December, 7-8. Once again representatives of mining and road construction industries have held this important action jointly.

Opening the exhibitions, Yuri Kancher, First Deputy Head of the Republic of Karelia, has noted, that mining industry of the republic has great opportunities for development. In ten months of 2011 the branch has increased its production volumes1.5-fold, and it has prospects of the further growth. In particular, they are caused by the fact that since 2012 Road Funds will be launched in regions of Russia. It means, there will be funds to build and repair highways. Mining enterprises of our republic are capable of providing materials necessary for renovation and construction. Karelian road metal will be in demand.

According to Yuri Kancher, new construction will demand materials of high quality and new technologies. The exhibition held in Petrozavodsk represented new technologies, opportunities, equipment and materials that will be more and more in demand in Russia.

Alexander Efimov, Minister of Construction of the Republic of Karelia, Denis Sokolov, Deputy Minister of Nature Management and Ecology of the Republic of Karelia, also welcomed guests of the exhibition on behalf of its organizers.

Currently, in the republic there are 90 mining enterprises. The leader of the branch is the iron ore extracting enterprise Karelsky Okatysh, others are engaged in production of block stone, road metal, sand, sand-gravels, extraction of schungite, feldspar and peat. In total, about eight thousand people are occupied in mining industry. The share of mining enterprises in total amount of industrial production of the republic within the past seven years has grown in money terms from 15% in 2000 up to 39% in 2011. Karelia has a raw materials sources of high-strength building and ornamental block stone.

Approaching the exhibition its guests had an opportunity to get acquainted with the equipment intended to work in quarries and on roads. In two lines there stood excavators, supersize cars, loaders. In the pavilion the equipment for mining and road branches, as well as samples of minerals extracted by the mining enterprises were presented widely.

The exhibition offered the opportunity to see new goods and services, and enabled discussion of vital issues of work in branches. Participants communicated within the seminars devoted to developments of such companies as Caterpillar and John Deere, as well as during the conference Natural Stone Building Materials in Russia in Modern Conditions of Economy.

The conference has caused wide interest and discussions. Within its course there have been discussed issues concerning federal and local legislation in the field of extraction of minerals, issues of cooperation with natural monopolies, and some technical issues.

Taking into account the branches' readiness to increase production volumes, a number of problems that need discussion and solution should be considered. According to Yuri Korenkov, Chairman of the Mining Council of the Association of Miners of Karelia, representatives of mining enterprises face many problems to be solved at the state level. The Government of Karelia realizes these problems and is ready for constructive work, though a number of actions have to be undertaken and at the federal level. For example, to open a new quarry, it is necessary to receive dozens of approvals. There are also problems concerning relations with natural monopolies.

All these issues were discussed during the conference held within the scope of the exhibition. Its final resolution, in particular, says: "analyzing the activity of mining enterprises in recent years, predicting further development of the branch, it is possible to say that development of bowels of the Republic of Karelia is a real opportunity to improve social and economic situation in regions, employment of the population, create conditions for decent life – stable work, tax proceeds, support of social infrastructure. On the other hand, it is possible to ascertain, that currentlu there is no rational management of natural resources, when all aspects of work of the branch are taken into consideration, including its efficiency and profitableness as a whole for the republic, its influence on the environment."

The conference has decided to appeal to the Head of the RK with a request to establish a standing commission for optimization of allowing procedures and preparation of offers on the specified issues for address to Federal structures. The Government of Karelia is recommended to provide funds for the Program of Development of the Mineral Resources Base and the Mining Industry of the RK for the period through to 2020 in the budget of the republic, and also to consider the issue of establishing the Fund of Reproduction of the Mineral Resources Base of the republic for activization of geological examination of its territory, to carry out works on audit and protection of natural geological monuments which are of interest in development of tourism.