Dr. Kimelman, from the Academy of Mining Science, and a member of Group 1, has called for of large-scale Russian industrial development on China’s door step. He claims that China will not be able to import all its iron-ore needs in coming decades (due to lack of world supply!!) and that Russia should take advantage of this by finding and developing iron ore deposits in regions which are situated close to China. But rather than just export raw materials, he wants to see the “economic rents” (super/excess profits) used for a “new industrialization”. He says that that if Russia “does not move away from dominance of the raw materials model, and if we do not now move to development of a diversified economy, we will fall behind forever”. Unlike other some other Russian commentators, he does not urge Russia to give up exploiting its natural resource exports and, instead, “modernize”. He says that it is well known that many countries (Norway, Australia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emerites and others) which do not aspire to be  processers of raw materials, use the income from this trade to develop other spheres of economic activity.

Jeff says that ….

Read more »