The Russian government may loosen restrictions on information regarding precious materials, including platinum.

Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told reporters on Wednesday (July 9th) that information on reserves and output of platinum, diamonds and palladium might be declassified.

Deputy prime minister and finance minister Alexei Kudrun is currently leading a government commission on state secrets.

The commission's initial deliberations are over, and a report is due to be made to the government soon, Mr Kasyanov said.

All information on the reserves and output of diamonds, platinum and palladium have been traditionally considered state secrets.

However, promises about declassification have been aired before, only to fail to come to fruition.

Some analysts have speculated that the takeover of US platinum group metals company Stillwater Mining by Russian giant Norilsk was even jeopardised at one stage by the lack of transparency in the Russian industry.