Dmitriev, who has also been appointed President Vladimir Putin’s envoy on international economic cooperation, was part of Russia’s negotiating team at talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia in February, where he focused on economic issues.

“Russia’s reserves of rare earth metals exceed the amount in Ukraine by several fold, and we are looking at a number of Russian deposits,” Dmitriev told reporters.

Rare earths and other critical metals, essential for high-tech industries, have gained global attention in recent months due to US President Donald Trump’s efforts to counter China’s dominance in the sector.

President Vladimir Putin has offered the US the opportunity, under a future economic deal, to jointly explore Russia’s rare earth metal deposits.

“We would like to involve American companies in these projects, there is significant interest, but Russia must also be interested,” Dmitriev said.

Russia has the world’s fifth-largest reserves of rare earth metals, according to US Geological Survey (USGS) data, following China, Brazil, India, and Australia.

USGS estimates Russia’s reserves total 3.8 million metric tonnes.

Russian estimates of its overall rare earth reserves are higher.

According to the natural resources ministry, Russia has reserves of 15 rare earth metals totalling 28.7 million tonnes as of Jan 1, 2023.

“Of that 3.8 million tonnes is either under development or ready for development,” it says.