This paper gives a brief analysis of the current situation in geology, and makes suggestions for its modernization. As a result of the spontaneous transformation of the institutional environment in subsoil resources management, an institutional trap which hinders the reproduction of mineral resources was formed. On the one hand, the geological assets in the current institutional environment are not attractive for business, and on the other hand, the mechanisms of public funding of geological exploration are being eliminated. The solution of the identified problems, in the opinion of the author, is in an active and systematic implementation of public resources policy in the following areas: balance in the division of responsibility between government and business, balance of responsibilities between the center and regions, liberalization of geological services market and improvement of national resource regime efficiency. Since the early 90s of the last century, there were the processes of deindustrialization and industry primitivization in the Russian economy. Modernization of geology in this paper is defined as an improvement and alignment with current and anticipated requirements of all sectors and areas of the industry functioning. According to the author, it should be brought into compliance with restoration and development of the industrial potential of Russia. The paper identified possible promising directions of domestic industry and geological mineral resources development taking into account the formation of a new technological order. Geological exploration is a sector that creates the resource base for the breathrough industry, including sectors of the new technological order. The need for new materials determines the need for new ideas and new solutions in exploration, production and extraction of mineral resources. Currently, however, we must note that Russia is losing its position in the field of high technologies, both in technological and in resource section. To ensure sustained economic growth in the future, we should base on the accelerated development of raw materials for high-tech industries.

The development of mineral-raw-material base on underdeveloped territories of the Urals North and Timan is determined by the capabilities of inter-regional cooperation on the basis of the new transport corridors creation. The failure of the «Industrial Ural — Polar Ural» project substantially defined the attitude to the mineral-raw material base of the Ural North; but the actual analysis of the project failure causes does not allow to blame the mineral-raw-material base in that fact. This paper considers the prospects of Timan — North Ural region mineral-raw-material base development and the existing problems of nowadays, The question of revaluation necessity as of the regions existing mineral resource base, as well as the possible variants of its transport development is raised.

The article presents the results of the revaluation of the mineral resource potential objects of the Northern and Subpolar Ural Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug − Ugra with the national resource of the regime. The aim of presented research is the development of theory and methodology of complex study and evaluation of mineral resources in the Northern, polar and Arctic territories in various stages of geological survey and development of uncertainty and risks. Author's method of accounting the national resource regime for the economic evaluation of the prospects of the mineral and raw materials potential is presented. In the course of the research were used, income, comparative approaches to the economic valuation and analyzed method abstract generic values of the (potential value), applied theoretical apparatus of the institutional theory. As a result of research, the following conclusions were made: underreporting of existing methods of economic evaluation of mineral-raw potential environmental and including institutional risks leads to incorrect results; a widely used procedure of assessment of country risks, based on applications of credit ratings and contain high share of subjectivity; the evaluation of a national resource of the regime showed high institutional risks in comparison with other countries, actively exploiting mineral resources, which indicates the need for a substantial change of the state commodity policies with a view to reducing institutional risks; the conducted economic revaluation showed the usefulness of involving in economic circulation of the facilities of mineral-raw potential of the KhMAO-Ugra only in the case of system development of the region; a revalued mineral and raw material potential is able to meet only local requirements for raw materials part of the industrial potential of the Ural region and the adjacent areas and only under the condition of construction of new of appropriate transport and energy infrastructure.