India Looks to Russia’s Tomtor Rare-Earth Deposit as Critical Mineral Race Intensifies

India’s search for secure rare-earth supplies has now reached Siberia. Indian state-backed miner IREL is reportedly in talks with Russian oil major Rosneft to obtain rare-earth samples from the Tomtor deposit in Yakutia, one of Russia’s most important undeveloped rare-earth assets. The talks are being handled through government channels, and the reported plan is to process the samples in Russia before shipping them to India for mineral assessment.

The move is important because rare earths have become strategic materials for the modern economy. These elements are used in permanent magnets that power electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, electronics, sensors, aerospace systems and defence platforms. The International Energy Agency notes that permanent magnets are the fastest-growing and most strategically important rare-earth application, with high-performance NdFeB magnets supporting EVs, wind turbines, industrial motors, AI data centres, medical systems, aerospace and defence.

For India, the Siberian sample request is a step in a larger supply-chain strategy. New Delhi wants to understand the mineral composition of Tomtor before considering deeper engagement. This is practical mineral diplomacy. Before any investment, offtake arrangement or processing partnership, India needs to know the quality, mix and recoverable value of the rare-earth elements present in the deposit.

Tomtor is located in Russia’s Yakutia region and is considered one of the world’s largest undeveloped rare-earth deposits. Rosneft acquired the deposit last year, giving the Russian oil major control over a resource that could become central to Moscow’s critical-mineral ambitions. For India, access to samples from such a deposit gives IREL a chance to evaluate a potential non-Chinese source of rare-earth feedstock.

This matters because the rare-earth supply chain is heavily concentrated. Mining is only the first stage. The real bottleneck lies in separation, refining, alloying and magnet manufacturing. Rare-earth elements are chemically similar, making their separation technically demanding. The IEA describes the value chain as a sequence of extraction, beneficiation, chemical upgrading, separation into oxides, metal refining, alloying and magnet manufacturing.

India has resources, but the downstream chain is still developing. A March 2026 Parliament reply stated that India holds the world’s third-largest rare-earth resources, including about 7.23 million tonnes of rare-earth oxide equivalent in monazite resources. The same reply also made the core challenge clear: India’s rare-earth resources are lean in grade, associated with radioactivity, and domestic midstream and downstream capacity in alloy and magnet production is still limited.

This is why India is moving on several fronts at the same time. The government has approved a ₹7,280 crore scheme to promote manufacturing of sintered rare-earth permanent magnets. The scheme aims to establish 6,000 tonnes per annum of integrated REPM manufacturing capacity in India, covering the chain from rare-earth oxides to finished magnets.

The Tomtor outreach fits neatly into this plan. A magnet industry needs reliable feedstock. A defence and EV supply chain needs separated oxides, metals, alloys and magnet-making technology. A future Indian rare-earth ecosystem cannot depend on a single foreign source. By looking at Russia, Myanmar, Argentina, Australia, Malawi, Japan and South Korea, IREL is trying to build optionality before India’s domestic magnet demand rises further. Reuters reported that IREL is also exploring mining opportunities in Argentina, Australia and Malawi, and plans to begin rare-earth magnet production around 2029–2030.

There is also a defence angle. Rare-earth magnets support compact and powerful systems in aerospace, sensors, actuators, electronics and defence platforms. The government’s own REPM note lists electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators, electronics, aerospace and defence systems, and precision sensors and actuators as key applications. This means rare earths are no longer just an industrial raw material. They are part of national power.

The Russia route also carries geopolitical complexity. Rosneft is under Western sanctions linked to the Ukraine war. Any deeper engagement around Tomtor would require careful structuring, payment mechanisms, logistics planning and diplomatic handling. The current step is still at the sample-evaluation stage, but even that shows how critical minerals are becoming part of foreign policy and strategic autonomy.

India’s rare-earth challenge is therefore clear. The country has geological resources, rising demand, and a government-backed manufacturing scheme. It also has gaps in high-purity separation, alloy production and large-scale magnet manufacturing. The Tomtor sample request is one piece of the larger puzzle: secure raw material, build processing capability, partner for technology, and create domestic demand through EVs, renewables, electronics and defence.

The larger message is that India is treating rare earths as a strategic supply chain rather than a normal commodity. Oil, gas and coal shaped the industrial age. Lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earths are shaping the clean-energy and advanced-manufacturing age. By seeking samples from Rosneft’s Siberian deposit, India is signalling that it wants early access, early assessment and early positioning in a minerals race that will define the next phase of global industrial power.