President Vladimir Putin has given his final assent to a bill that will declassify the secret status of all platinum group metals.

The amendment to Article 5 of the federal law on state secrets will unlock all details on the reserves, output, sales and transfers, and consumption of the metal.

Exceptions to the rule will remain in the form of classified status for information about pgms kept in the state precious metals and gems depositary Gokhran and the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), but otherwise the statistics will be released.

Alexander Belyakov, chairman of the State Duma's committee on natural resources environmental management, said he hoped the move would provide fresh impetus for the industry.

According to the presidential press service, Mr Belyakov is optimistic that a new level of transparency will make Russia more attractive to investors.

The bill was approved by the Federation Council on October 29th and passed by the State Duma, or lower house of parliament, on October 15th in three readings.