Arkhipova n.p., Yastrebov e.v. how the Ural mountains were discovered. Iron ores of the Urals Iron ores deposit in the Urals

More than 75 large and small iron ore deposits are known in the Urals, the total balance reserves of which as of 01/01/89 amounted to 14.8 billion tons, of which about 9.4 billion tons are proven reserves (according to categories A+B+C1) . Some of the discovered deposits of the Urals have not yet been sufficiently studied and are not included in the balance sheet.

The largest part of the explored reserves (7.1 billion tons) is represented by complex titanomagnetite ores, which are concentrated in 4 deposits, the largest of which are the deposits of the Kachkanar group with balance reserves of more than 11.5 billion tons. magnetite, martite and semi-martite ores in The Urals are concentrated in 19 deposits. Their balance reserves amount to 1.4 billion tons. About 48 deposits are represented by brown iron ores with total balance reserves of 0.4 billion tons. Seven of these deposits with reserves of 0.32 billion tons are represented by complex iron-chromium-nickel brown iron ores. Two small deposits are represented by magnetite ferruginous quartzites and two by siderites, of which the Bakalskoye deposit is the largest with reserves of more than 1 billion tons of siderite ores.

Most of the iron ore deposits of the Urals have been intensively exploited for a long time and have already been largely depleted. Their remaining reserves are very limited.

Let us consider in more detail the most important iron ore regions and deposits of the Urals.

In the northern Urals there is the North Ivdel iron ore region, which includes deposits of the Northern and Languro-Sam groups, as well as the Maslovskoye deposit. These deposits served as the ore base of the Serov Metallurgical Plant, some of them were developed by opencast mining by the Polunochny and Marsyatsky mine departments. The deposits are represented by magnetites, martites and brown iron ores. The iron content varies widely, amounting to 45-50% for magnetite and martite ores and 32-40% for brown iron ores. Magnetic iron ores contain a significant amount (up to 1.40%) of sulfur. The phosphorus content does not exceed 0.2%. Magnetite ores were subjected to magnetic separation, and brown iron ores were subjected to washing. Small fractions of the concentrate were sent to the sintering plant of the Serov Metallurgical Plant, and the lump concentrate was sent directly to the blast furnace. Currently, these deposits are not being developed.

There (in the Serovsky and Severouralsky districts of the Sverdlovsk region) the Bogoslovsky group of small deposits is located (it includes Auerbakhovsky, Vorontsovsky, Pokrovsky, Bayanovsky, Severo-Peschansky and other mines). deposits are also represented by magnetite ores, red and brown iron ores. The total reserves of these groups of deposits in the Northern Urals do not exceed 250 million tons.

The iron content in the ores of the Bogoslovskaya group deposits also varies widely from 40 to 58% for magnetic iron ores and hematite ores and 32-40% for brown iron ores. The ores have an increased content of copper, and the ore of the Auerbakhovsky deposit has an increased content of chromium. The phosphorus content usually does not exceed 0.1%, but some of the ores have a high sulfur content (up to 3.8%). The ores of the Bogoslovskaya group of deposits are mined mainly underground (95%), on their basis there are two mines: Peschanskaya and Pervomaiskaya. The Severo-Peschansky GOK was commissioned with a capacity of 3.0 million tons of concentrate per year with an iron content of 49-52%, which is supplied to the Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant and the Serov Plant.

In the same region, a large Serov deposit of complex brown iron ores containing chromium (1.5-2.0%) and nickel (about 0.5%) was discovered; cobalt is present in small quantities. Ore reserves in categories B+C1+C2 are estimated at 1 billion tons, including 940 million tons of legume-conglomerate ores and 60 million tons of ocher ores. Genetically, the deposit belongs to deposits of weathering crust. The cut-off iron content in bean-conglomerate ores is 24%, in ocher ores it is 45-47%, the waste rock is aluminous (the SiO2:Al2O3 ratio is about 1).

The deposit is still poorly explored and studied, especially with regard to the technology of preparing ores for smelting and the smelting itself. The most likely and in an efficient way their enrichment is a pyrometallurgical method. This method consists in the fact that during the process of reduction roasting of ore, a significant part of the iron passes into the metallic state. Subsequent magnetic separation of the burned product makes it possible to obtain a concentrate containing 81.2-81.5% iron, including 77.3-79.7% metallic iron at high degree extracting it. About 75% of the chromium ends up in tailings, from which it can be recovered by other methods. Nickel 77-82.5% goes into concentrate. However, this technology is relatively expensive. There is no final decision on the use of ores from this deposit yet.

In the north-eastern part of the Sverdlovsk region there is the Alapaevsk group of small deposits, representing the ore base of the Alapaevsky and Verkhne-Sinyachikhinsky metallurgical plants. The ores are represented by brown iron ores with an average iron content for various deposits in the range of 38-41%, pure in sulfur (on average 0.02%). The phosphorus content does not exceed 0.1%. The gangue rock is dominated by silica and alumina. The balance reserves of ores of this group amounted to about 58.6 million tons. Currently, ores are not mined.

The Tagilo-Kushvinsky iron ore region includes 11 relatively small deposits (Vysokogorskoye, Lebyazhinskoye, Goroblagodatskoye, etc.). The total balance reserves of ores in this area are about 1.09 billion tons. The deposits in this area are skarn-type deposits, represented mainly by magnetite and, to a lesser extent, semi-martite and martite ores. Brown iron ores are insignificantly widespread. The average iron content by ore type and deposit varies widely (from 32 to 55%).

Rich oxidized ores are used after crushing and screening, while clay and boulder ores are also washed. As a result of the enrichment of oxidized ores, lump open-hearth and blast furnace ore, as well as fines for sintering, are obtained. Poor magnetite ores, characterized by a high sulfur content (0.4-1.8%), are enriched by dry and wet magnetic separation. The resulting concentrates are sent to agglomeration. The chemical composition of ores and concentrates is presented in Appendix 1.

Both magnetite and high-grade martite ores are characterized by a high content of manganese (0.24-2.0%) and alumina (2.3-6.0%). The ratio of silica and alumina content is less than two. High mountain ores are characterized by a high copper content (0.08-0.12%). The development of ores in the deposits of this area is carried out by open and underground methods.

In the Tagil-Kushvinsky region there is also the Volkovskoye deposit of complex iron-nadium-copper and phosphorus ores. On average they contain (in%): Fe 18.0; Cu 0.8; P2O5 5.57; V 0.26; SiO2 35.4; CaO 12.8; Al2O3 12.4. The deposit has been developed by the Krasnouralsk copper smelter since the early 80s. The production volume in 1990 amounted to 1,428 thousand tons. Technological diagram The enrichment of these ores at the plant's beneficiation plant involves direct selective flotation with the separation of first copper and then apatite concentrates. Iron vanadium concentrate is separated from apatite flotation tailings using magnetic separation.

Depending on the initial copper content and enrichment mode, the yield of copper flotation concentrate varies from 0.57 to 9.6% with a copper content from 5.05 to 20.83%. Copper recovery is 52.3-96.2%.

The P2O5 content in apatite concentrate varies within 30.6-37.6%, and its recovery is 59.8-73.4%. As a result of magnetic separation of apatite flotation tailings, a concentrate containing 59.0-61.6% iron is obtained, with its recovery being 55.1-75.4%. The V2O5 content in the concentrate is 1.0-1.12% with an extraction of 65.3-79.2%. The yield of iron-vanadium concentrate is 15.30-27.10%.

The Kachkanar iron ore region is represented by two large deposits of complex titanomagnetite ores: Gusevogorsky and Kachkanar proper. The balance ore reserves of these deposits amount to 11.54 billion tons, of which 6.85 billion tons are explored. According to their genesis, these deposits belong to the igneous type. The ores are poor, disseminated, the iron content in them is 16-17%. The main iron ore minerals in them are magnetite and ilmenite. Hematite is present in small quantities. Ilmenite forms the finest inclusions in magnetite. The titanium dioxide content in the ore is 1.0-1.3%. In addition to iron and titanium, the ores contain vanadium (about 0.14% V2O5). High basicity (up to 0.6-0.7) of waste rock is positive. The ores are pure in sulfur and phosphorus.

On the basis of the Gusevogorsk deposit, the Kachkanarsky mining and processing plant has been operating since 1963, with a raw ore capacity of 45 million tons. Ore is mined using an open-pit method. The ore is easily enriched using the magnetic separation method to obtain a concentrate containing 62-63% iron and 0.60% V2O5. From the resulting concentrate, the plant produces sinter and pellets, which are sent to the Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant for smelting vanadium cast iron. The slag generated during the oxygen-converter processing of this cast iron is used to produce ferrovanadium. According to this scheme, the integrated use of iron ore raw materials mined at this deposit is carried out. The extraction of iron into the concentrate is about 66%, vanadium 75.5%. However, the end-to-end recovery of vanadium into the final products – ferrovanadium and steel – is significantly lower (30-32%). Therefore, another technology for the complex processing of these ores is currently being proposed and developed, including the production of metallized pellets and the smelting of steel directly from them. In this case, vanadium losses will be reduced to 15-20%.

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In the Sverdlovsk region there is also the Pervouralsk titanomagnetite deposit with balance reserves of 126 million tons. Genetically, it also belongs to the magmatic type. The iron content in the original ore is 14-16%. The ore contains titanium and vanadium, pure phosphorus (0.22%) and sulfur (0.21%). The development of the deposit is carried out by the Pervouralsk Mining Administration, which produces 3.5 million tons of raw ore per year. After enrichment by dry magnetic separation, a lump concentrate is obtained containing 35.7% iron, 3.6% TiO2 and 0.49% V2O5. The concentrate is supplied to the Chusovsky Metallurgical Plant.

A group of deposits (Kusinskoye, Kopanskoye, Medvedevskoye) of titanomagnetite ores with total balance reserves of about 170 million tons is located in the Kusinsky region Chelyabinsk region. The ores contain 36-45% iron, they contain titanium and vanadium. These deposits were intended for the smelting of vanadium cast iron at the Chusovsky Metallurgical Plant. Until recently, the Kusinsky deposit was developed by the Zlatoust Mining Administration. The ore was enriched by wet magnetic separation. From the concentrate at the Kusinskaya sintering plant, an agglomerate containing about 58% iron, 5.0% titanium dioxide and 0.84% vanadium pentoxide was obtained.

In connection with the development of the production of vanadium-containing pellets and agglomerate at the Kachkanarsky GOK, which is supplied to NTMK and the Chusovsky Metallurgical Plant, the operation of the Kusinsky deposit has been discontinued, and the development of other deposits of this group is not envisaged in the foreseeable future.

The Bakal iron ore district is located 200 km from Chelyabinsk on the western slope of the southern Urals. In the Bakal ore field, up to 20 iron ore deposits have been explored with total balance reserves of about 1.06 billion tons, of which proven reserves amount to 669 million tons. These deposits are hydrothermal. Ore bodies of the Bakal deposits are in the form of sheet-like deposits of lens-shaped, nest-shaped and vein formations. The length of sheet-like deposits is up to 3 km, width up to 1 km, thickness up to 80 m. However, small ore bodies, confined to faults, predominate. The depth of the ore bodies is from 100 to 500 m. In the oxidation zone, which descends to a depth of 60-120 m from the surface of the ore body, siderites are transformed into brown iron ore. Semi-oxidized siderites occur between these horizons. The main iron-containing mineral of the siderite ores of the Bakal deposits is sideroplesite, which is an isomorphic mixture of carbon dioxide salts of iron, magnesium and manganese.

Bakal siderites are characterized by a relatively low iron content (30-35%), which, due to the removal of carbon dioxide during the dissociation of carbonates during their heating (during roasting or smelting), increases to 44-48%, with an increased content of magnesium oxide, phosphorus purity. The sulfur content in them is extremely variable, changing without any regularity (from 0.03 to 1.0% and higher). As a useful impurity, Bakal siderites contain from 1.0 to 2.0% manganese oxide. Brown iron ores contain about 50% iron, 0.1-0.2% sulfur, 0.02-0.03% phosphorus. The reserves of brown iron ore amounted to about 50 million tons and are now practically exhausted.

The Bakal deposits are the main ore base of the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, Satninsky and Ashinsky plants. The deposits are developed by open-pit and underground methods by the Bakal Mining Department. The bulk of the mined ore (about 4.5 million tons) is siderite. The mined ore is crushed and sorted to separate the lump fraction (60-10 mm) and fines (10-0 mm). The lump fraction of brown iron ore is sent to blast furnace smelting. Lump siderite is fired in shaft kilns. Burnt siderite, having magnetic properties, undergoes magnetic separation. The resulting concentrate is supplied to the indicated factories in the Urals, the Karaganda Metallurgical Plant and other enterprises. A mixture of small fractions of siderite and brown iron ores undergoes agglomeration at a local sinter plant. The sinter goes to the blast furnace shop of Mechel JSC. The chemical composition of ore from deposits in the Bakal region and the products of their preparation is presented in Appendix 1.

The Akhtenskoye deposit is located in the Kusinsky district of the Chelyabinsk region and is an additional base of the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant. Its reserves amount to about 50 million tons. Ores are represented by brown iron ores and siderites. They are similar in quality to Bakal ores. Only brown iron ores with an iron content of about 43% with 0.07% sulfur and 0.06% phosphorus are mined.

The Techenskoye deposit of magnetite ores with proven reserves of about 60 million tons is located 60 km from the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant and is its additional ore base. It belongs to the type of skarn deposits. The average iron content in the ore is 35.4%, sulfur – 1.17%, phosphorus – 0.07%. Enrichment of these ores by wet magnetic separation and grinding to 0.2-0 mm makes it possible to obtain a concentrate with an iron content of up to 55%. The field is currently not being developed.

The Magnitogorsk deposit belongs to the type of skarn deposits. The ores of Magnitogorsk Mountain are the ore base of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works. They are represented by two main varieties: sulfide (or primary) and oxidized. In addition to these two types of bedrock ores, the deposit contained a small amount of placer ores and brown iron ores. In sulfide ores, the main iron ore minerals are magnetite and pyrite (their sulfur content is up to 4%). Oxidized and placer ores are represented by martite, and brown iron ores are represented by limonite. The iron content in ores varies widely: 38-60% for magnetite (sulfide) and 52-58% for martite ores. The phosphorus content in Magnitogorsk ores does not exceed 0.1%, averaging 0.04-0.05%. The gangue of these ores is characterized by increased basicity, amounting to about 0.3 for oxidized ores and 0.5 for sulfide ores.

High-grade oxidized ores (with an iron content above 48%) are crushed and sorted. Low-grade oxidized and placer ores are enriched using the gravity method (washing, jigging) using magnetic separation. For rich sulfide ores, dry magnetic separation is used; for low-grade sulfide ores - dry and wet magnetic separation. The chemical composition of the original ores and concentrates is presented in Appendix 1. Fines of oxidized and placer ore concentrates and all sulfide ore concentrates are subjected to agglomeration at 4 MMK sinter plants.

Currently, the balance reserves of the ore of Mount Magnitnaya, which has been intensively mined since 1932, have been largely exhausted and as of 01/01/89 amounted to 85 million tons, which leads to a gradual reduction in production volume. To compensate for this reduction, development of the small Maly Kuibas deposit, located in close proximity to Magnitogorsk, began. magnetite and hematite ores containing 40-60% iron and 0.03-0.06% phosphorus. Magnetite ores contain 1.8-2.0% sulfur, and hematite ores contain 0.07%. During enrichment, a concentrate containing 65% iron is obtained. Development is carried out in an open way. The total balance reserves of the deposits of the Magnitogorsk iron ore region at the beginning of development were about 0.45 billion tons.

The Zigazino-Komarovsky iron ore district is located in the Beloretsky region of Bashkortostan and is a group of 19 small deposits of brown iron ores (dense brown, ocher-brown and ocher-clayey) and, partly, siderite ores of sedimentary origin. The total balance reserves of ores of these deposits, which are the iron ore base of the Beloretsk Metallurgical Plant, amount (as of 01/01/89) to 80.2 million tons. Part of the deposits (Tukanskoye and Zapadno-Maigashlinskoye) is developed by open pit mining. The production volume is about 0.5 million tons of ore per year. The average iron content in mined ore is 41-43%. The ores are pure in terms of sulfur content (0.03%) and phosphorus (0.06-0.07%). Lump brown iron ores are mainly mined; in order to prepare for smelting, they are crushed, washed and sorted at the Tukan and West Maigashlinsk crushing and processing plants. The iron content in washed ore is 47.0-47.5%.

The Orsko-Khalilovsky iron ore district includes 6 deposits of brown iron ores of sedimentary origin containing nickel (0.4-0.7%) and chromium (1.60-2.5%). The total balance reserves of ores in the region's deposits amounted to 312.2 million tons as of January 1, 1989, the largest of which are the Akkermanovskoye and Novo-Kievskoye deposits. The average iron content for deposits varies between 31.5-39.5%. The ores contain 0.03-0.06% sulfur and 0.15-0.26% phosphorus.

The ores of this area are the raw material base of Nosta JSC (Orsko-Khalilovsky Metallurgical Plant), which was designed to produce natural alloy metal. According to the initial project, Novo-Kiev ore with an iron content of 38-39%, mined by open-pit mining, should be crushed and sorted to separate lump blast furnace ore with a particle size of 120-6 mm and fines 6-0 mm for agglomeration. Akkerman ore, also mined by open-pit mining, the iron content of which is 31.5-32.5%, must be prepared according to a more complex scheme, including crushing it to a particle size of 75-0 mm and screening into classes 75-10 and 10-0 mm. The first class (with an iron content of 38%) is a finished product for blast furnace smelting, and the 10-0 mm fines were intended for roasting and magnetic enrichment to produce a concentrate (45.5% iron). The resulting concentrate, together with fines from Novo-Kyiv ore, must undergo agglomeration at the plant’s sinter plant.

However, this scheme was not implemented. Currently, only the Novo-Kievskoye deposit is being exploited, the lump ore of which is supplied for the smelting of natural alloyed cast iron at one of the OKMK blast furnaces. The rest of the iron production at the plant is based on imported raw materials.

Having examined the characteristics of the main deposits of the Urals, we note that for the development of ferrous metallurgy in this region, in addition to local iron ores, iron ore materials imported from other regions of the country are used, in particular from the mining and processing plants of the KMA, the north-west of the country and Kazakhstan.

The USSR ranks first in the world in iron ore reserves. The Soviet Union contains about 54% of the world's proven iron ore reserves. The main deposits in the USSR are the following.

South and Center of the USSR

The ores of the Krivoy Rog deposit are distinguished by a high iron content and a small amount of harmful impurities: 0.04 - 0.08% S and 0.03 - 0.06% R. The Krivoy Rog basin has very large deposits of so-called quartzites, which contain about 35% iron and approximately the same amount of gangue in the form of silica (SiO 2).

The Kerch deposit is represented mainly by brown iron ores, which contain up to 4.6% manganese, up to 1% phosphorus (sometimes higher) and relatively little iron - up to 39%.

The Tula and Lipetsk deposits are represented by brown iron ores. In the ore of the Tula deposit, the iron content reaches 45%, and in the Lipetsk ore - up to 47%. Tula ore contains more phosphorus (about 0.44%).

The Belgorod iron ore district includes five deposits. Some deposits in this area are rich in magnetite quartzites. There are also rich ores here, in which the iron content reaches 61%.

Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (KMA) is a deposit containing rich hematites (containing 54.8 - 61.4% iron) and poor quartzites. The deposit is very large and promising.

Fields of the North-West

There are seven iron ore deposits in this area. The largest are Olenegorskoe and Eno-Kovdorskoe, the ores of which serve as the iron ore base of the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant. The ores of the Olenegorsk deposit are mainly represented by magnetites and hematites. The average iron content in these ores is about 31%. The waste rock of the ores of this deposit is the same as in the Krivoy Rog deposit. Features chemical composition Iron ores of the Eno-Kovdor deposit are high phosphorus content and increased basicity of the waste rock. The average iron content for this deposit is 30%.

Iron ore deposit of the Caucasus and Transcaucasia

The iron ore base of the Transcaucasian Metallurgical Plant is the Dashkesan deposit. The ores of this deposit contain up to 14% lime (CaO) and up to 1.2% magnesia (MgO). In terms of iron content, they are classified as poor, since its content does not exceed 39%.

Iron ore deposits of the Urals

The largest deposits in this area include Magnitogorskoye (the ore is used by the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works), Tagil-Kushvinskoye (Kushvinsky and Novo-Tagilsky Metallurgical Plants) and Bakalskoye (Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant).

The bulk of the magnetic iron ore of the Magnitogorsk deposit consists of two types of ores: magnetite and martite. The magnetites of this deposit are sulfurous. The sulfur content in individual nests reaches 4%, and iron 59%. Martites contain significantly less sulfur (up to 0.16%) with an average iron content of 62% (up to 65%). The gangue of these ores consists of silica, alumina, lime and magnesia. The main waste rock is alumina.

Tagil-Kushva magnetic iron ores (Mountains Blagodat, Vysokaya and Lebyazhya) contain up to 62% iron; in some places its content decreases to 30 - 32%. The gangue of these ores consists of silica and alumina. The ore is sulfur and phosphorous; in some areas the sulfur content reaches 1.5% and phosphorus 1.2%. In some areas the ore is relatively pure in phosphorus. Goroblagodat ore contains copper. During mining, ore is divided into low-copper ore, containing up to 0.2% copper, and cuprous ore - up to 0.7%. Lumpy enriched ores are used for blast furnace smelting in their raw form, and dusty ores are used after enrichment and agglomeration.

Brown iron ores of the Bakal deposit can be considered pure in sulfur and phosphorus. The average iron content in the ores of this deposit is 48 - 50%.

Iron ores of Siberia and the Far East

The deposits in this area can be divided into several groups:

Mountainous Shoria, where the ores contain 42 - 55% iron, and Khakassia (the ores contain up to 46% iron). These deposits are the raw material base of the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant.

Beloretskaya, Inskaya (in Altai), Auzasskaya and Alatau-Altalytskaya groups, the ores of which will become the raw material base of the West Siberian Metallurgical Plant.

The Angaro-Pitskaya and Angaro-Ilimsk groups with the Nizhne-Angarsk, Korshunovsk, Rudnogorsk and other deposits will be the main bases of the new metallurgical plants - Krasnoyarsk and Pribaikalsk.

Garinskaya and Kimpanskaya groups (Far East), Priargunsky district of the Chita region and Aldanskaya group in the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Waste rock from Siberian deposits and Far East is presented mainly in the form of calcium oxide (CaO), which does not cause difficulties during blast furnace smelting. Rich ores of this area contain from 50 to 55%, and poor ores 33 to 45% iron.

Deposits of the Kazakh SSR

On a territorial basis, the iron ore resources of the Kazakh SSR are divided into three regions: Central Kazakhstan, Aral and Kustanai. The latter iron ore region is also the base of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works and the Barnaul Plant in Western Siberia. This area is represented by magnetite ores (45 - 59%) of the Sokolovsky, Sarbaysky, Kacharsky, Kurzhunkulsky and other deposits; brown iron ores (37 - 42%) of the Ayatskoye, Lisakovskoye and Kirovskoye deposits.

According to technological types, iron ores are divided into magnetites (19.0%), hematites (1.9%), brown iron ores (77.3%), siderites (0.1%) and hematite quartzites (1.7%), from of which 4.17 million tons do not require enrichment (55.9%).

The most important indicator of the quality of iron ore is its iron content. Therefore, when metallurgically evaluating iron ores, attention is first of all paid to this indicator, as well as to the composition of the waste rock. Waste rock, for which the ratio of the sum of bases CaO + MgO to the sum of acids SiO2 + Al 2 O 3 is equal to or close to unity, is called self-melting.

Metallic minerals of the Urals (ferrous metal ores)

The Middle Urals are a whole storehouse of various minerals. The amazing combination of minerals is explained by the complex geological history that the Urals has experienced.
During the intrusion of igneous rocks, sedimentary strata changed under the influence of high temperatures and pressures.

This is how various minerals and many ores arose, which, due to erosion and weathering of the mountains, ended up close to the surface or were exposed.

The basis of Ural metallurgy is ferrous metal ores.
The most valuable of them are magnetic iron ores (magnetites). In the Middle Urals, there are deposits of magnetic iron ores in the area of Kushva, Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, and Kachkanar.

Metallic minerals of the Urals (non-ferrous metal ores)

The Middle Urals are rich in ores of non-ferrous, noble and rare metals. Copper pyrite ore deposits are located in Krasnouralsk, Kirovograd, and Degtyarsk.

Copper ores formed during the intrusion of granites are developed in Nizhny Tagil (Mednorudnyanskoye deposit), near Polevskoye (Gumeshevskoye deposit).

Complex copper ores are mined in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. There are many deposits of rare metals in the Middle Urals: gold (Berezovskoye deposit, valleys of the Tura, Salda, Tagil rivers), platinum (valleys of the Lobva, Kosya, Tagil rivers).

Platinum nuggets weighing more than 10 kg were found in the Urals. In Soviet times, aluminum ores - bauxite - were discovered in the Urals.

Non-metallic minerals of the Urals

The non-metallic mineral resources of the Urals are also diverse. Deposits of fire-resistant minerals - asbestos and talc - are especially large. The Bazhenov asbestos deposit is one of the largest in the world. Acid-resistant asbestos, valuable for the chemical industry, is being mined near Sysert. To the south of Sverdlovsk there is the country's largest Shabrovskoye talc deposit. An important group of industrial minerals in the Urals consists of refractory materials: talc, magnesite, dolomite, mica, the reserves of which rank first in the world in the Urals. Particularly interesting is asbestos, or, as it is called, “mountain flax”, “stone kudelka”. This stone can be used to make fireproof yarn, fireproof ropes and fabrics, cardboard, bearing gaskets, insulating fireproof tiles, and cladding products. The world's largest deposit of this mineral is located in the city of Asbest, Sverdlovsk region.
A special group of minerals in the Urals consists of precious and colored stones of the Urals. Bright green emeralds, soft lilac amethysts, sparkling diamonds, golden topazes and changeable red-green alexandrites have long been the pride of the Urals. Valuable artistic stones are also famous - variegated jasper, various marbles, green malachite, pink eagle, greenish-blue amazonite.
Stone products made by the hands of skilled Ural lapidaries are world famous. Famous are the gem mines near the village of Murzinka, near the villages of Lipovka, Adui, in the Novoasbest area. On the dumps you can collect samples of rock crystal, amethyst, and morion. There are also alexandrite - a transparent stone of a dark green color, and chrysolite of a golden-greenish color. You can also find bluish or pink topazes and tourmalines of various colors.

Minerals of the Urals (Non-metallic minerals)

Combustible minerals of the Urals

Oil and gas fields of the Timan-Pechora oil and gas province and the Volga-Ural oil and gas province, incl. gas condensate Orenburg field, located on the western slope and in the Urals, concentrating mainly in the Pechora, Perm-Bashkir and Tatar arches. Oil and gas potential is established in a wide stratigraphic range - from the Riphean to the Triassic inclusive, industrial accumulations are concentrated in the Eifelian-Triassic structural stage and are confined to several regional gas and oil bearing, mainly carbonate, less often terrigenous strata of Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian age.
Hard and brown coals are widespread. Industrial coal content is associated with the Tournaisian-Early Visean (Kizelovsky coal basin, Egorshino-Kamensky, Poltavo-Bredinsky coal-bearing areas), Permian (Pechora coal basin), Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic (Chelyabinsk brown coal basin, Serovsky, Bulanash-Elkinsky coal-bearing areas), Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous (Sosva-Salekhard brown coal basins) and with Paleogene - Neogene (South Ural coal basin) deposits.

Gumeshevsky copper mine (Gumeshki) is one of the oldest and most famous copper deposits in the Urals. The history of the Gumeshevsky mine begins in the Bronze Age and continues during the early Iron Age. The deposit was rediscovered in 1702 by the Aramil peasant Sergei Babin and the Utkin peasant Kozma Suleev.

In 1709, the industrial development of Gumeshki began. The mined ore was transported to the Yekaterinburg and Uktus plants, until the Polevsk copper smelter was built in 1718 for its processing.

In the period from 1735 to 1871, the deposit was developed by numerous mines and pits. At this time, exclusively oxidized ores were known and mined, consisting of cuprous clays, malachite and native copper. At the same time, the depth of work varied from 20 to 150 meters.
In 1749, at a depth of 14 fathoms, two human skulls, shin and humerus bones, 4 leather rawhide bags, two copper crowbars, an iron knife with a bone handle and many other finds of the “Chud” period were found.
In 1774, at a depth of 15 fathoms, a birch support and two fur mittens were found.
Gumeshevsky malachite was the most exceptional; it was used to make jewelry; the malachite halls of the Hermitage and the Palace of Versailles were decorated with it. In 1770, a block of malachite weighing more than 2.7 tons was mined at the mine; part of it is stored in the Mineralogical Museum of the Leningrad Mining Institute.

The next period from 1870 to 1937 is characterized by the development of cuprous clays in quarries, processing of old dumps and heap leaching. For this purpose, a chemical plant was built near the deposit, and in 1907, a sulfuric acid plant (Polevskaya Order of the Red Banner of Labor cryolite plant) was erected in its place. Production waste was stored in spent quarries and mines "Georgievskaya" and "Angliyskaya".
Until 1917, the mine produced copper ore on a small scale and washed out old dumps. Work at the mine was then resumed in 1926 by the English concession Lena Goldfields and continued until 1931.
Since 1934, the head of the Degtyarsk geological exploration office "Tsvetmetrazvedka" engineer Merkulov M.I. Extensive search work was organized.

In the third period, from 1938 to 1957, exploration of primary sulfide ores was carried out.
At the beginning of 1938, geologist of the Degtyarsk geological exploration office Belostotsky V.I. and the second secretary of the district committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Comrade Valov, raised the question of exploratory drilling in the area of old mines. This is how the first drilling rig appeared at the Gumeshevsky mine. The first wells intersected a skarn ore deposit up to 20 m thick with good copper content. After that, drilling rigs were already working at the mine.
Thus, in 1938, large reserves of primary (skarn) ores were discovered at the long-abandoned Gumeshevsky mine. This discovery was a major event in the history of research into the ore resources of the Urals. In terms of its identified reserves, it surpassed all other copper contact-metasomatic deposits of the USSR and stood on a par with such large pyrite deposits as.
In the early 1940s, construction of a new mine began in Gumeshki, excavation of the Yuzhnaya mine and restoration of the Georgievskaya mine began.

An ancient mine on Gumeshki (photo taken from http://ozon.newmail.ru).

When driving drifts and crosscuts, old mine workings filled with acidic mine water or industrial waste (phenolic resins) from a cryolite plant were exposed. All this complicated mining operations.

In 1942, due to the outbreak of war, the mine was put into wet conservation.
Restoration of the mine began after the Great Patriotic War. In 1950, according to the project of the Unipromed Institute, work began on restoring the mine. The design productivity of the mine was determined at 300 thousand tons of ore per year. The construction of the Kapitalnaya mine began, and the Gumeshevsky mine administration was formed.

From 1958 to 1994, the Gumeshevsky mine carried out underground mining of ore bodies in bedrock at horizons of 54 m, 100 m, 145 m, 195 m, 250 m, 310 m, 350 m, 410 m, 490 m, connecting the Georgievskaya mines. , "Southern" and "Capital".

The Yuzhnaya-Ventilationnaya mine, the pile driver of the Kapitalnaya mine is visible in the background (photo – http://ozon.newmail.ru).

The mine used systems of block-story caving and sub-level drifts with ore breaking through deep wells.
Drainage was carried out through the shaft of the Kapitalnaya mine with an average annual productivity of 216 to 338 m³/hour. A feature of the deposit was the presence of water-filled karst cavities with a maximum volume of up to 800 m³.
Most of the water inflow was formed at a horizon of 100 m, which had the largest mining area and came out near the Zhelezyansky and Seversky ponds. Water also came from the bed of the Zhelezyanka River and the settling tanks of the Polevsky cryolite plant.

The bed of the Zhelezyanka River, diverted to the side.

The area of the depression crater was 3.58 km² with a mine field length in the meridional direction of about 900 m.

Flooded area in the area of the Yuzhnaya-Ventilationnaya mine.

Due to the development of ore reserves in the central part of the deposit and a large influx of water, it was decided to stop further ore mining in 1994 with a stop in drainage (up to 100 l/s). In 1995, flooding of a huge number of mine workings began, which continued until 2001.

The mining depth of the Gumeshevskoye deposit reached 500 meters from the surface, work was carried out on 5 underground horizons.
From 2000 to 2004, at the Gumeshevskoye deposit, Uralhydromed OJSC carried out exploration of cuprous clays for subsequent leaching.
In 2004, the Gumeshevsky mine began mining oxidized ores (cuprous clays) by underground leaching using concentrated sulfuric acid. The leaching depth ranged from 50 to 100 meters.

An area of underground leaching at the site of the “northern” failure.

A number of legends are associated with work at the mine in pre-revolutionary times, which form the basis of the tales of P. P. Bazhov (for example, the tale of the “Mistress of the Copper Mountain”).

Destroyed buildings of the Kapitalnaya mine.