Russian Natural Resource Storehouse At a Glance Russia's land mass is the largest in the world. Russia holds the world's largest natural gas reserves (1,700 trillion cubic feet in proven reserves. Russia has the world's largest oil reserves. Russia has the second largest coal reserves (173 bn short tons). The U.S. estimate of Russia's potential Arctic reserves: 100 bn barrels of oil (Russian estimates are more modest at 50 bn barrels of oil. Russia has the world's fifth largest lead reserves. Most Russian oil is in Siberia, but deposits between the Volga and Ural Rivers (north of Kazakhstan) are often referred to as the "Second Baku". Russia has the largest reserves of water in lakes. Russia has the world's largest diamond deposits and second largest potassium reserves. Russia's forest resources, known as the Taiga, are larger than America's mainland and comprise 25% of the World's forests. They contain over one third of the world's timber and numerous animal resources including bear, moose, elk, deer, wolves. Russia has enormous fish reserves off its coasts, including salmon, cod and herring. Russia has 20% of the world's fresh water resources, or ranks first in the world. Russia's gold reserves are some of the world's largest. Other mineral reserves include uranium, asbestos, platinum, rhodium, palladium, copper, tin, bauxite, vanadium, nickel, zinc, sulfur, tungsten, cobalt, iron ore, and other precious gems. Russia has 27% of the world's reserves of iron and tin ores; over 40% of the platinum group minerals and 35% of nickel reserves.   Source: various sources, including Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation official web site http://ministr.mnr.gov.ru. The Russian-American Chamber of Commerce® is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization acting to promote American business interests in the Russian marketplace. The Russian-American Chamber of Commerce® Last Updated: March 9, 2001. Copyright the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce® 1995-2003. All rights reserved.