Russia proposes to create BRICS geological platform for data sharing : Ministry

Moscow: Russia has proposed to create BRICS geological platform for data sharing with an aim to enable the BRICS countries to exchange data on their mineral reserves and extraction technologies. “Alexander Kozlov, the minister of natural resources and environment of the Russian Federation, met with Mosa Mabuza, the chief executive officer of the Council of Geoscience of South Africa to discuss establishing a ‘geological platform’ of the BRICS member states,” the Russian Natural Resources Ministry said in a statement. BRICS, an economic bloc that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, was formed on June 16, 2009. South Africa joined BRICS in December 2010. “Mr. Mosa Mabuza supported our proposal to create the BRICS geological platform,” Kozlov wrote on his Telegram channel following negotiations with the representative of South Africa. The minister explained that the platform will strengthen the cooperation of the geological services of the BRICS countries: Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa. “We will all receive data on each other’s mineral reserves and mining technologies. This is important because the demand for the mineral resources of the new economy is growing by leaps and bounds: platinum, copper, aluminium, nickel, lithium, cobalt and rare earth metals. We all need exploration of new territories, taking into account the experience, technology and knowledge of each other,” the minister was quoted by TASS as saying in a statement. The minister added that Russia and South Africa will discuss steps to create a geological platform at a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on March 30 in Pretoria. “The first steps in creating the platform should include an expert meeting and a meeting of the heads of geological services of the BRICS countries. After that, a memorandum is to be prepared and a cooperation program approved. It should include specific areas, forms and types of both bilateral and multilateral cooperation, depending on the goals of each BRICS country,” the ministry said in a statement. According to the head of the Federal Agency on Subsoil Usage Evgeny Petrov, whose words are also quoted in the ministry’s statement, the promising areas for joint geological exploration will be regional geological research, new technologies in geology, including remote sensing, digital control, resource classification. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.