Non-sustainable prices as an obstacle for sustainable development of mining industries

In this paper the activity of Russian mining companies is analysed in terms of global market’s trends, pricing policies, full-cycle production from extraction and preparing iron ore and to its deep processing, and as well as sustainable development. The pricing policy of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation is criticised: monopolists in metal and mining industry sell its production in the domestic market based on the LME prices expressed in USD. The dynamics of the LME Official Prices Cash Seller & Settlement for aluminium and zinc is explored and described. The authors focus on the effect of “double volatility” of prices for ingots connected with low addedvalue goods as well as the USD/RUB exchange rate. There is no connection between production and research, which undermines stable development of the mining industry. The main reason for the foundation of The Russian Aluminium Association is discussed. In the conclusion, it is emphasised that the Russian government will have to review its policy in regulating the mining industry and switch to import substitution because of the current political and economic situation on the global metal markets