The Altai Republic is situated in the southern part of the Altai mountain range borders: in the North, Kemerovo oblast in the North-West of the Altai territory, in the South-West by the Republic of Kazakhstan, in the South — people’s Republic of China, in the South-East of the Mongolian people’s Republic, on the East by the Republic of Tyva.

Among the minerals, gold is the most important. Then there are rare metals-tungsten, molybdenum, bismuth, cobalt, lithium, tantalum, mercury. In recent years, promising deposits of silver have been discovered together with a rich set of non-ferrous and rare metals. Deposits of marble, granite, iron, stone and brown coal have been explored and prepared for exploitation. Deposits of wollastonite, gypsum, various mineral pigments, mineral and medicinal table waters, and therapeutic mud are under study.

The main transport highway of the republic is the Chui Highway (more than 600 km long), which runs from Biysk to the border with the Mongolian People’s Republic.
Rivers of the Ob River basin and Lake Teletskoye.

In agriculture, meat and dairy farming, sheep breeding, and goat breeding predominate; yaks, marals, and sika deer are bred. Gardening is developed. Animal husbandry with a high proportion of sheep, down goats, Altai horses, yaks, and partly cattle. Corn for silage and perennial grasses are also grown.

The main industries are: food processing, related to the processing of agricultural products, in particular, leather, butter-making, meat; as well as logging.