* 502 
pyrites, talc, carbon black, coal, coke, natural gas, and petroleum.? 
However, self sufficiency is not the entire goal of Soviet mineral 
development policy. Exports of minerals produce foreign exchange 
to help pay for imports, even though most minerals exported could 
be consumed within the country. Fuels, minerals, and metals made 
up about 40 percent of the total declared Soviet exports in 1974. 
As evidence of the importance placed on mineral resource develop- 
ment, the entire 1975 summer session of the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet 
(it meets twice a year in July and December) was devoted to con- 
sideration of a policy document titled ‘“‘Fundamental Principles of 
the Legislation of the U.S.S.R. and the Union Republics on Mineral 
Wealth.”’ This legislation which will come into force on January 1, 
1976 reflects the basic principles of exclusive ownership of mineral 
wealth by the State and specifies the tasks and obligations of enter- 
prises, organizations, and citizens in the development and exploitation 
of mineral resources. Attention was drawn to the need to develop 
technology to reduce waste and improve the efficiency of mineral 
extraction industries. 
Over the past several years Russian journals have reported develop- 
ment of several types of new equipment for underwater exploration 
and mineral recovery. In 1970, Izvestia, the governments’ official 
newspaper, declared that one need hardly have great insight to predict 
the appcarance of a specialized Soviet fleet of ocean-going dredges 
of various types, ships equipped with ocean mining machinery and 
floating concentration facilities. The only question IJzvestia raised is 
when this fleet would make its appearance. The first generation of 
these dredges is apparently now is operation. On April 4, 1975 Pravda 
contained a glowing description of the first winter’s activities of a 
mining complex in the Arctic Ocean.* 
OFFSHORE MINING 
The extraction of titanium-containing sands from the Baltic sea 
in the vicinity of Liepaja was begun in 1968. The Vyborgsky, described 
as a super dredge, was used in the first experimental extraction of 
offshore ilmenite-rutile-zircon sands by the U.S.S.R. The titanium 
sands are found in strata from 30 cm. to one meter in thickness, 
at rather shallow depths of three to eight meters, and are several 
times cheaper to recover than similar materials mined on land.* The 
Baltic shelf is also rich in other rare metals. Additional deposits of 
ilmenite-rutile-zircon sands have been found in the Black Sea. 
In 1969 the 1,100-ton ship Tura was turned over for ocean mining 
research by the U.S.S.R.’s Ministry of the Maritime Fleet with plans 
for equipping it for use in recovering and concentrating tin-bearing 
ore.° This ship has been successful in mineral exploration of continen- 
tal shelf areas in the Far East especially where ore minerals have 
been found on beaches near Nakhodka Bay on the Okhotsk, and 
? U.S. Bureau of Mines. 1972 Minerals Yearbook, v. iii, U.S. Govt. Print. Office, Washington, 
D.C., 1974, pp. 813-850. 
3 Yusin, A. Mine in the Ocean. Pravda, April 4, 1975, p. 6. English translation in The Current 
Digest of the Soviet Press, v. XX VII, No. 14, 1975, pp. 26-27. 
“ Mikhailov, S. Voprosy ekonomiki, No. 7, July 1972, pp. 101-106. English translation in The Cur- 
rent Digest of the Soviet Press, Vol. XXIV, No. 40, November 1, 1972, pp. 1-6. 
* Oceanography Newsletter. v. 5, n. 17, April 27, 1970, pp. 1-2. 
