In April 2026, at the IX All-Russian Congress of Geologists, a round table “Junior companies and investments” was held. Participants – scientists, intelligence officers, stock analysts – recorded: the fund of promising sites in Russia is close to exhaustion, and the current rules make entry of private capital into geological exploration unprofitable.
Small exploration companies – juniors – today finance exploration work more than large holdings, but their work is becoming more difficult. The fund of promising gold deposits is almost completely licensed, new deposits are smaller and poorer. Bringing a project from the first geological idea to establishing reserves costs about a billion rubles and takes more than ten years. At the same time, the company that discovered the deposit, according to the current rules, pays an additional fee – in fact, a fine for its own discovery.
Participants identified the confidentiality of geological data as a separate problem. Detailed maps are classified, registers of licensed areas are scattered. This interferes with both the planning of work and the evaluation of projects by investors. In Canada and Australia, on the contrary, the state opens basic data to all market participants – and this is what became the basis for the developed junior sector in these countries. A representative of the Moscow Exchange confirmed that there are no formal prohibitions on exploration companies entering the stock market in Russia. The problem is the lack of companies and investors who are ready to go public and understand geological risk.
As a result of the discussion, the participants prepared a package of proposals for the Congress resolution: increase government funding for regional geological survey work, reduce the bureaucratic burden on early-stage companies, cancel the discovery fee, expand access to geological data and create an interdepartmental working group under the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Private capital is ready to enter geological exploration. The question is when the industry will create real conditions for this.
Source: First junior accelerator
Image: First Junior Accelerator
