The integration of science and practice in systemic exploration and replacement of a mineral resource base
The combination of systemic exploration and development of indicated reserves in a single notion of subsoil use is shown to be ineligible. Conceptual confusion has led to the substitution of the problems of exploration for the problems of mineral production. The structural- functional system of exploration has been destroyed; the paradigm of advanced expanded replacement of the mineral resource base (MRB) has shifted to its opposite: intense development of reserves and their low-level replacement. Disharmony between explored reserves, estimated reserves and inferred resources in the MRB structure has resulted in the depletion of explored reserves. The key problems that should be addressed to ensure the sustainable mineral resource security of the country are the re-establishment of the systematic approach to mineral exploration; the unconditional recognition of the fundamental unity of geological science and practice; the legal support to exploration through adoption of the Law on Exploration and the State Geological Survey of Russia.