‘Experts are growing increasingly pessimistic about The Industrial Urals-The Polar Urals (a large-scale project on the industrial development of the Urals’ north). The project has been around for five years already and could now come to a halt unless some effective measures are taken. It is essential for the ad hoc work team to control all the field operations,’ General Director of OAO Siberian Scientific Analysis Center Anatoly Brekhuntsov announced at a recent meeting. The meeting was aimed at assessing the implementation of the all-round exploration work scheme for the Northern, the Subpolar, and the Polar Urals in 2006-2009. Also, the meeting participants discussed the plans to set up a mineral resource base within The Industrial Urals-The Polar Urals program.