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= Impacts of Resource Exploitation in Siberia = During the Russian Civil War, The USSR government turned their attention towards Siberia as not only a place of exile for convicts, but also as an opportunity for the discovery and extraction of natural resources such as coal, oil, and natural gas. However, even before this time, the lands in and around Siberia had been used for the extraction of precious minerals such as gold, iron, and silver as early as the seventeenth century. During the 19th century, gold was discovered near the Yenisey basin, beginning the Siberian gold rush. The miners working at these mines were mostly exiles, peasants, or foreign workers and conditions were very poor.

In 1721, massive coal deposits were found in the Kuznets Basin in southwest Siberia and is now one of the largest coal mining regions in Russia. Although Russia is the sixth largest producer and the fifth largest consumer of coal, the prominence of coal power is slowly declining. This may be due to global outcry from the environmental destruction posed by the extraction and consumption of coal. In addition to coal, there is a large presence of oil mining in Siberia. Multiple oil deposits were discovered in Western Siberia from 1961-1965, each of them containing over 300 million tons of oil. These wells are responsible for massive outputs of oil, exceeding 100 tons of oil per day. The West Siberian petroleum basin is the largest physical hydrocarbon basin in the world. However, although these deposits are rich in terms of resources, they are located in extremely harsh climactic conditions which makes the extraction and transportation logistically difficult due to the large swamps that occupy 70-80 percent of the land in this region. Much of Siberia’s natural resource base remains untapped. Studies have shown large deposits of natural resources including coal and oil exist in Eastern Siberia, but are unable to be mined due to the location and harsh conditions. Due to the inaccessibility of these reserves, the true value of Siberian resources is unknown. However, with global warming, much of the permafrost is now melting, which may ease efforts to mine the resources in Siberia’s east. The Russian government is currently exploring the resources and attempting to access eastern Siberian reserves.

Due to the abundance of these natural resources in Siberia, Russia relies heavily on the exploitation of them. This reliance has led to many impacts across Russia’s economy, environment, and culture.

Economic Impacts
In 2021, it was estimated that the natural resource base in Russia is with $71 trillion USD. This includes oil, gas, coal, timber, and precious metals – most of which is found in Siberia. Oil revenues constitute around 23 percent of Russia’s total budget, which is a decline from before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when it constituted 30-35 percent of the total budget. Additionally, as of 2020, Russia accounts for 12% of global supply of oil, putting it at the third largest oil producer. 67% of oil, 89% of natural gas, and more than 90% of Russia’s total coal comes from Siberia. The Western Siberia oil reserve has generated 146 billion bbl of oil and more than 1600 TCF of gas. Furthermore, a third of the world’s diamonds come from Russian mines in Siberia, with 90% coming from one company, Alrosa, of which two thirds is owned by the Russian government. Despite the large volume of resources coming from Siberia, only 16.4% of the revenue earned was reported to be put back into the Siberian economy.

Environmental Incidents
Although the exploitation of these resources is an important factor in Russia’s economy, the environmental destruction caused by mining, refining, and consuming the vast quantities of resources is significant. There are multiple accounts of natural incidents occurring  across Siberia due to pollution caused by mining and refining natural resources. These are most prevalent in the Kuzbass region where the presence of mining is the largest.

Norilsk Pollution
Most of the pollution in Siberia has its center in Norilsk, the northernmost city in Siberia. It was founded as a site for the extraction of copper-nickel ore deposits. Today, the mining and smelting of cobalt, nickel, copper, platinum, and palladium are the major industries within Norilsk. As a consequence of this activity, Norilsk has been named amongst the top 10 most polluted cities globally. In 2022, the city recorded 1,787,000 tons of pollutants into the air, with majority being sulfur dioxide. High concentrations of sulfur dioxide lead to acid rain, damaging plants and trees, waterways, increasing the acidity of soils which prevents the growth of vegetation, and increases the risk of diseases in humans and animals. Studies conducted on the wetlands and vegetation in the surrounding areas have found that the increase in sulfur dioxide has caused a decrease in vegetation growth from 1950. Additionally, heavy metal pollution is so prevalent in the land in and around Norilsk that it is economically feasible to mine the soil due to the high concentration of economy grade platinum and palladium.

Red Rivers
In 2016, photos of the Daldykan River in Norilsk went viral after a heavy rainstorm caused the river to turn blood-red. The rain caused an overflow of waste water from a nearby nickel refinery which then made its way into the river. The river was contaminated with nickel, sulfur oxides, iron, and iron oxides, the latter of which may have been the source of the distinctive red colour. Scientists in the area stated it was a very distinctive colour which is typical of mine leaks and mineral pollution. When waterways are contaminated with iron oxides, there is not much that can be done to decontaminate them. The solution is usually to wait until the contamination passes and dilute the water. Water contaminated with these kinds of minerals is not safe to drink and cannot be used in irrigation systems or given to livestock. Satellite images from as early as 2013 captured the river turning red prior to the viral photo in 2016, and the area remains very highly polluted. Furthermore, the Daldykan is not the only river in Siberia to undergo this colour change due to contamination. In 2020, the Iskitimka river that runs through an industrial center in Siberia also displayed a deep red colour. It was reported by many locals that ducks around the area would refuse to enter the water following the colour change and it is uncertain what risks this poses to human health. The cause of the colour change is as of yet unknown.

Kuzbass Black Snow
In addition to the rivers, several towns in the Siberian region of Kuzbass reported black snow falling in 2019. Kuzbass is home to one of the world’s largest coal fields and coal refineries are prevalent in the area. It was reported that the cause of this colour change was due to several open pit coal mines which release toxic coal dust into the air and mix with the snow in the winter months. This phenomenon of back snow is not uncommon for this region. The coal dust exists in the year at other times of the year, but with the falling of the snow, the dust becomes visible. The dust is reported to contain various toxic heavy metals including arsenic and mercury. In the Kuzbass, many locals are reported to have begun protests to promote tighter regulations on mining in the area and demand action on reducing the toxic pollution.

Red Rain
In 2018, in Norilsk red rain fell from the sky in a region close to the nickel refinery factory. The red colour was caused by iron oxide residue that was being removed from the factory’s roof after a gust of wind picked up the dust and spread it across areas near the factory. The aftermath shows the parking lot and surrounding area covered in red water residue from where the rain had fallen. The long-term health risks of this event are unknown.

Norilsk Fuel Leakage
In May of 2020, over 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled out of the Russian nickel company Nornickel’s power plant storage site in what became the world’s worst environmental disaster in the Arctic. The diesel seeped into the soil and flooded nearby waterways. This caused the rivers and lakes nearby to become stained red with the fuel. In June, President Vladimir Putin declared a national emergency following the spill. Following the incident, massive efforts were made to clean up and conceal the incident, and Nornickel put forward USD$142 million dollars to aid in cleanup efforts. In 2021, Nornickel was fined USD$2 billion for the incident. This is the largest fine for any environmental related issue to date. Satellite images showed vast stretches of  the river stained red from the spill. Although Nornickel claims that the river and surrounding land have been decontaminated as of 2022, the large floating booms that were used to contain the spill are still in effect. The river was tested and shown to contain no excess of oil, but shows significant excess of nickel, cobalt, copper, and iron, likely due to the chemical runoff from the nearby plant.

Indigenous people
Many indigenous groups within Siberia have been severely negatively impacted by the mining operations. In recent years, multiple Shor villages have been impacted by the opening of gold mines in close proximity to the villages. The process of establishing the mines requires excavation of topsoil, which ravages ecosystem and destroys lands belonging to the Shor people and prevents them from accessing this land for agriculture. As gold is mined primarily in and around rivers, waterways are severely impacted by the process of mining and rivers and waterways become severely polluted, meaning they become inaccessible for people and livestock. In 2020, the concentration of contaminants including zinc, copper, and iron in the Balyksu River was found to exceed the maximum allowable concentration by a factor of 5. In addition to pollution destroying the environments around the mines, the presence of large human activity causes the disappearance of wild animals which the Shor people rely on for commercial value.

The Kuzbass mines lie in a region of Siberia with land belonging to both the Shor and Teleut people. However, plans to increase the mining operations push for the seizing of indigenous land for the expansion of the mines, leaving these people with little land left to practice their culture and live. Coal mining in the Kuzbass has caused the destruction of the Shor village of Kazas, where resdents were evicted from their homes without having a say in the mining operations

Health in Siberian Populations
One of the biggest concerns following the environmental destruction and pollution caused by mining is the health and safety of people living in close proximity to the mines. In Kuzbass, the open pit coal mines release coal dust which surrounds the settlements close by, occupied by approximately 2.6 million people. From 2005 to 2019, coal production in this region experienced an increase of 1.5 times. During this time, people in this region experience life expectancies 3 to 4 years lower than Russia’s average of 75 for women and 64 for men. The mortality rates in the Kuzbass region of Siberia was approximately 16% higher than the Russian average in 2019, with 1426 per 100,000 people, compared to the average for Russia of 1228 per 100,000 people. Additionally, the second highest cause of death in this region after cardiovascular diseases is oncological diseases, and cancer rates in this region are higher than in other parts of Russia. The increase in the amount of air pollution in this area is also linked to a higher rate of respiratory illnesses in the region. The rate of tuberculosis is 1.7 times higher than the national average and child mental disorder is 1.8 times higher than the national average. In this region, about 94% of drinking water sources did not meet the Russian sanitary chemical and microbilogic standards.

Public Opinions
With the massive presence of Siberia’s natural resources within Russian society, public opinions are varied. Since 2020, many protests have begun regarding concerns over contamination of drinking water and pollution in Siberian regions. Civilians are rallying against the opening of new copper mines in Bashkiria, as well as gold mines in other regions of Siberia. The outcry is met with political repression as the government fights to keep the public calm, arresting many protestors and disbanding protests.

In addition to protests, another interesting response to this industry is criticism through music. Several Russian artists including IC3PEAK, DJ Smash and Bobina have created songs with underlying criticisms of Russia’s natural resource exploitation. In 2014, DJ Smash and accompanying artists released the song “I Love Oil,” and in 2014 released an accompanying music video. In the video, a petroleum miner presents a barrel to an upper-class woman and her daughter, to their delight. Following this, the woman proceeds to pay for her purchase at the shopping mall by pouring oil into the cash register, as well as going to a club where everyone is swimming in and drinking oil. While engaging in various activities involving the oil, she sings “while Russia has oil/ I’m in Milan/ If I’m in Milan/ Russia has oil.” This video and accompanying song gained popularity in Russia at the time and exemplifies the place that oil and gas have in Russian politics, economics, and society. The lyrics and visuals in this song are an ironic representation of Russia’s wealth through oil and gas. You can access the song through this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqLfL9bP5EA Similarly, IC3PEAK is a Russian duo who create songs heavily characterized by political undertones. In December of 2018, the two musicians travelled to Siberia to perform a concert and were detained at the train station. Since then, their music has undergone heavy censorship in Russia. In particular, their song, Смерти Больше Нет (Death No More), contains references to Russia’s natural resource base as she sings “I fill my eyes with kerosene/ let it all burn/ whole Russia is watching me,” while standing on the steps of a Russian government building and proceeds to set herself on fire. This song and accompanying video can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBG3Gdt5OGs

Future of Resource Mining In Siberia
Although public backlash regarding the environmental destruction and pollution caused by Siberia’s mining industry is on the rise, it is projected that the scale of these projects is only set to increase. Total Russian oil production is forecasted to increase at an annual rate of 1.5-2.5 percent[61]. Coal similarly is still expected to rise, but at a lesser rate than that of oil and gas due to the lower share that coal has in Russia’s total energy share. Additionally, due to rising global temperatures, much of the ice and permafrost in Siberia is beginning to thaw, making resources previously inaccessible more available for exploitation. This melting may lead to the development of resource mining in places such as east Siberia with huge, but currently inaccessible natural deposits of natural resources.

Activity in the Kuzbass region however, may see a diminishing of activity due to declines in demand for coal. As coal is the primary resource mined in this region, growth is not expected for the industrial development in the Kuzbass region due to the decline in coal prices. Furthermore, the war in Russia with Ukraine caused Europe to discontinue its purchase of Russian gas. This caused a massive crash in the revenue it received from this resource and with the war continuing, it is unlikely the revenue will increase back to pre-war levels without Europe buying its gas.

Due to a variety of factors, Russia may turn its attention to other natural resources for growth. For example, there are plans to reopen a copper mine in 2023 in Siberia due to the increase in global demand for copper. This shift also in part responds to the global shift away from carbon based resources, as copper is an important material in generating cleaner energy. The mine is said to hold 26 million tonnes of copper, making it the largest untapped deposit in Russia. The demand for copper globally is expected to increase by 30% in the next 15 years, making this a good alternative to fossil fuel mining for Russia.