Russia has decided to put off the long-awaited disclosure of data on reserves of platinum group metals (PGMs) and diamonds, which are currently a state secret, the Natural Resources Ministry said on Tuesday.
"That's what has been decided...This is not so much the decision of the Natural Resources Ministry but of the various co-ordination committees representing relevant ministries," said Rinat Gizatulin, a ministry spokesman.
The law allowing disclosure of data on private PGM stocks, production and trade became officially effective in February.
But President Vladimir Putin has to sign a separate decree amending the list of state secrets, after which the ministries of economy, natural resources and finance are to amend their own lists of secrets and authorise disclosure. But the decree has yet to be signed.
Gizatulin said the decision was made on August 4 but would not say what was behind it.
"I not am saying this is the way it is going to be forever," he said.
The government has said that the disclosure of PGM data would make the market for these metals more transparent, predictable and attractive to foreign investment.
Gizatulin said data on gold reserves had been dropped out of the ministry's latest secrets list but PGMs and gems reserves data were still on it.
However, data on major gold deposits is already widely available on various unofficial Web sites.
Industry players have said that one of the reasons for the delay is that the law allowing the disclosure does not cover stocks held by the state and officials had to ensure that the interests of the state were not damaged.
The biggest player in the Russian PGMs market is Norilsk Nickel, the world's top producer of palladium and an important player on the market for platinum.
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