The article solves two relevant problems related to the implementation of the institutional assessment of environmentally oriented subsoil use: 1) the definition of the ‘environmental security’ and 2) the determination of the development level of institutional bases of environmentally oriented subsoil use including the institutional capacity of subsoil use and institutional capacity of environmental security. The article shows an analysis of the existing definitions of “environmental security” and offers the own one. Despite the significant national and foreign experience in the institutional capacity assessment of various processes, there are still some difficulties in defining and measuring the institutional capacity. We eliminate these difficulties by employing 1) original factors, previously identified, and the content of the “institutional capacity” term; 2) quality characteristics for the institutional capacity assessment of the process regulated at the macroeconomic level, and 3) a consistent methodological tool for the institutional assessment of environmentally oriented subsoil use. The study is based on the hypothesis of the necessity of legal and discreet state intervention in the process of subsoil use. Therefore, we identify the evaluation indicator of state regulation in the environmentally oriented subsoil use as the institutional capacity level calculated by using the fuzzy-set theory. As a result, the institutional capacity levels of the environmentally oriented subsoil use have been defined for both the transport corridor «Arctic-Central Asia» and for the countries composing it. The obtained values of the assessment of institutional capacity levels of the environmentally oriented subsoil use can serve as a basis for identifying the vector of its increase.

Recently, the balance of social, infrastructure, economic, technology and other factors is a core focus area in the regional economic development. Similar priorities appear in the planning and organization of economic activities in various productive sectors including natural resource management and subsoil management as a part of it. However, the diversity of approaches to understanding the term “balance” and its assessment does not allow to achieve a sufficiently high level of state strategic management. This study attempts to develop a consistent approach to the state regulation of natural resource management in order to balance economic activity when developing the natural-resource potential of a region. The results of the research are the following. Firstly, we have defined the concepts of “balanced natural resource management” and “balanced subsoil management”. Secondly, we have identified the key principles of balanced natural resource and subsoil management. And last, we have developed the guidelines for assessing a balance level of natural resource management (subsoil management) in a region. The proposed method is used for the estimation of a balance level of subsoil management in the Sverdlovsk region. We have concluded that subsoil management in the Sverdlovsk region meets conditions only to 52 %. The resource component is at the level of 63 %; the economic component — 50 %; the environmental component — 51 % and the social component — 44 %. This indicates an extremely unfavourable situation in the mining industry of Sverdlovsk region in terms of balance. We have undertook a rapid assessment of subsoil management in the Sverdlovsk region. The depth of the study is largely determined by the method used. The lack of statistical data for regions by economic activity became the research limitation. Further research can focus on other components of natural resource management, expanding factors’ list affecting subsoil management for assessing the balance level in the Sverdlovsk region and Ural Federal District with further mapping of the received results.

The importance of considering mining wastes (MW) as a factor of increasing the balance level of subsoil management in regions is growing. Firstly, it happens because of the gradual exhaustion of mineral deposits. Secondly, the formation of significant volumes of mining wastes (regularly generated and already accumulated over a sufficientl y lon g perio d o f time ) represents a unique reserve of minerals. These trends are accompanied by the lack of effective waste management programs built on a fundamental theoretical and methodological basis for assessing mining wastes in terms of the balanced subsoil management. One of the key steps is the development of tools for assessing the balance level of subsoil management taking into account MW. An analysis of the domestic and foreign research revealed the lack of works directly related to the development of such methodological approaches. We hypothesise that there is a direct correlation between the creation and use of the fundamental theoretical and methodological basis for assessing MW from the standpoint of the balanced subsoil management (including the methodological tools for assessing the balance level of subsoil management considering MW as a managing tool) and the efficiency of the policy regulating subsoil use and regional waste management. The study’s key result is the creation of the the improved tools for assessing the balance level of subsoil management taking into account MW. We have proven that application of these improved tools for subsoil management increases its efficiency through constant monitoring of the dynamics of the key indicators of the balanced subsoil management. We tested the improved methodological tools for assessing the balance level of subsoil management taking into account MW on the example of the Sverdlovsk Region. The results have demonstrated the indicator of 52.62 %. Nevertheless, consideration of mining wastes positively affects the level of subsoil management. That result indicates the importance of considering MW as a source of reproduction of the region’s mineral resources base.