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Kavkaz
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The Caucasus is a mountain range between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, only the northern slopes of this range became part of Russia. The southern part of the Caucasus is now part of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Russian part of the Caucasus is made up of numerous republics, of which Chechnia, Dagestan and North Ossetia are best known. There are several mineral localities on the Caucasus. In this chapter only the Russian ones are mentioned. I'm not into politics and neither am I your guardian, but the Caucasus is about the only region in Russia where it can be seriously unsafe to travel as a foreigner. So if you plan a visit there, be sure to check if the specific area is safe.
This a a strange locality. At the end of the 19th century Alagir, in North Ossetia, was one of the world's most important producers of zinc. there is an old Russian stock certificate of 1896. Some people might know Alagir from this. Fact is that Alagir is no mineral locality as such, but the place of an important smelter of the Sadon mining district.
geology
Alikonovka is located just west of Kislovodsk. The locality is
known for it's chalcedony. The mineralogy occurs in geodes in cretaceous
limestone
mineralogy
Calcite Celestine Chalcedony
Chalcedony
Amanauz is a river, just south of the Dombai ski resort in the
high Caucasus. Not much is known from this deposit by me, other than that it is
an amphibolite.
some unknown rocks and minerals:
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mineralogy
Ferrotschermakerite, Prehnite
If you know more about these rocks, minerals or the locality please contact me by clicking HERE
geology
Arkhonsky Rudnik is located 3.6km west of Kholst along the the Arkhon river. For the geology see Kholst, below. Arkhon is also located in the Sadon-Unal
anticline and the deposits are neary identical.
mineralogy
Ankerite Barite Calcite Galena Pyrite Pyrrhotite Quartz Siderite Sphalerite
Geology of Ore Deposits, V.I. Smirnov, 1976, p316
Barytovyi pass is a small batite mine or prospect on the slope of Jemorakly Tyube, about 5km north of Arkhyz in Respublika Karachai-Cherkes. Arkhyz is named as barite and witherite locality in literature. Barytovyi pass is probably the same.
Barite, Marcassite, Pyrite
 Barite |
 Calcite |
Bedenskoye, or Mount Beden is located on the watershed between the Laba and Urup rivers. It is a small deserted complex of about three closed magnesium mines.
geology
Bedenskoye is a serpentinite which is partially weathered to secondary
magnesium minerals.
mineralogy
Brucite Hydromagnesite Pyroaurite
 Brucite |
 Hydromagnesite |
 Pyroaurite |
Belorechensk-Complex
Belorechensk is a tricky name. Meaning 'white river', the mine refers to the
Belaya river and not to the town of Belorechensk. The mining complex is located
much further south than this town near the town of Kamennomostskiy, right along
the Belaya river in Adygea.
There are a lot of mysteries around Belorechensk. This is deliberately caused by
the Soviet regime, because the area was mined for uranium, a strategic
commodity. There are three localities close by eachother or maybe they are the
same. Officially Belorechensk is a barite, polymetallic mine. Then there is
nearby Dakhovskoye, which is a hydrothermal Ag-Ni-Co-Bi-U deposit. No uranium
should occur in Belorechensk, yet uraninite and coffinite are often offered from
here by mineral dealers. On google earth no mining activity is seen at
Dakhovskoye, this could mean that the mines and dumps are cleaned up. Then there
is 'Nikel'. Nikel was a mining town in the area, where Nikel was code for
uranium. Adit 13 of the Dakhovskoye/Belorechensk district was locally known as
Nikel mine.
So in literature there is a distinct difference between Dakhovskoye with uranium
and Belorechensk without uranium, but I can not see this difference in specimen
offered on the market.
geology
Belorechensk consists of paleozoic metamorphic rocks and granitoids, covered by
lower Jurassic sedimentary sandstone and clay. The mineralogy is related to
different types of hydrothemal veins. There are barite veins, dolomite/ankerite
veins and the more interesting but rarer Ag-Bi-Ni-U veins.
mineralogy
Ankerite Barite Berthierite Chalcopyrite Coffinite Curite Dolomite Fluorite
Galena Gersdorffite Krutovite Marcasite Miargyrite Millerite Nickeline
Polydymite Pyrargyrite Pyrite Pyrostilpnite Schrockingerite Serpierite Silver
Sphalerite Strontianite Ullmannite Uraninite Vaesite
 Barite |
 Berthierite |
 Coffinite |
 Curite |
 Fluorite |
 Gersdorffite |
 Marcasite |
 Serpierite |
 Strontianite |
 Uraninite |
Beshtau uranium deposit
(Pyatigorsk)
Located near Pyatigorsk in Stavropolski Kraj. Interesting is the thallium mineralogy! By the way 'Besh' means five and 'Tau' means mountains in Turkish. So Pyatigorsk is just the Russian translation. The history of Beshtau remains sketchy because of the strategic importance of uranium during the cold war. Although references of Beshtau exist from the 19th century, it is believed that modern mining operations started at the east side of Beshtau hill in 1949 by drilling. Earlier geological literature probably only deals with the mineral waters around Mineralnye Vody. An interesting source for historic information is a CIA report on the facility, dating from 1959. Based on areal survey a map shows mines on the eastern and southern slope of Gora Beshtau, on Gora Sheludivaya, on Gora Ostraya, on Gora Medovaya and to the north on Gora Buk. The Beshtau mines were closed around 1990.
geology
Besthau consists of hydrothermal veins in granite porphyry. The granite forms a
total of 11 laccolith intrusions, which manifast themselves as hills or
mountains in a fairly flat area. The older country rock consists of cretaceous
and tertiary layers. At Beshtau this is sandstone and shale, at Buk this is
limestone. Apart from the thallium mineralogy, Beshtau is also special because
uranium ores occur here together with manganese ores.
mineralogy
Evansite Lermontovite Lorandite Marcasite Opal Pyrite Uraninite Vrbaite
Lermontovite
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB186/doc01.pdf
geology
Beskes is a pyritic copper deposit not far from Urup. It is from the same age
and same type.
mineralogy
Not known, but probably like Urup
A large dolomite mine in North Ossetia.
A tin mine, located in North Ossetia.
mineralogy
Cassiterite
Gmelin-Krauts Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie, Sn
Chegem river
geology
Chegem river is known a granitic gold deposit. Much of the Chegem valley
consists however of jurassic limestone, from which the specimen below
originates. See also the Lakargi entry, below.
mineralogy
Dolomite Gold Quartz
 Dolomite |
Cheget is situated southeast of Elbrus volcano right on the border with Georgia.
geology
Cheget is a andalusite mica schist of the so called pre-alpine basement of the
main range of about 425 Ma. The rock was later not disturbed by hercynian
magmatism and therefor serves as excellent study material for this era of
Caucasus evolution.
mineralogy
Andalusite Biotite Garnet Ilmenite Monazite-Ce Muscovite Plagioclase Tourmaline
Zircon
 Andalusite |
 Monazite |
V.Yu. Gerasimovsky, Thermochronological modeling of the Greater caucasus metamorphism age, Geophysical reshearch abstracts Vol7, 07853, 2005
Dakhovskoye is located very close to Belorechensk deposit. It was mined in the 1940's, but recently more specimen from this deposit came on the market. It is a part of the Belorechensk deposit. See Belorechensk for more information.
mineralogy
Breithauptite Ullmannite
Dzhalankol is a remote barite locality along the upper reaches of the Dzhalankol stream, a tributary of the Kuban river.
mineralogy
Barite Chalcopyrite Galenia Sphalerite Witherite
 Chalcopyrite |
 Galena |
 Sphalerite |
Elbrus volcano
geology
The Elbrus volcano is with 5198m the highest peak of Europe. This young
stratovolcano is situated on a precambrean ridge. The only known eruption occured
around 50 AD.
mineralogy
Biotite
 Biotite |
Elbrusski mine
(Elbrusskyi)
Elbrusski mine became famous for it's great Orpiment specimen. The mine is located in a river valley 35km northeast of Mt.Elbruss in the valley of the Kuban river. The deposit was discovered 1829, but worked for the first time after the october revolution in the early 1920's. Lead, zinc, copper and silver is mined at two levels, under the Kuban river.
geology
The book Zarenschätze by Peter Kolesar lists the Elbrusskij mine as epithermal
As (Hg, Sb) deposit. I have my doubts since a recent visit to this site revealed
sphalerite and galena veins without arsenic mineralogy. So there might be some
zonation from pure Pb/Zn veins to epithermal arsenic veins.
mineralogy
Sofar I did not come across a complete list of minerals from Elbrusski mine.
Below are observation of self made (well Sergey's) finds.
Azurite Barite Calcite Galena Orpiment Pyrite Quartz Seligmannite Sphalerite
 Azurite |
 Barite |
 Galena |
 Orpiment |
 Sphalerite |
geology
Gapca is a mercury deposit in Dagestan, located close to the Samur river.
Geologically it consists of Jurassic limestone and sandstones
mineralogy
Cinnabar
Gmelin-Krauts Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie, Hg
geology
Indysh is a river flowing into the Kuban' river, not far north of the
Elbrusskij mine. Topographical maps show at least three (abandoned) mines
near the deserted hamlet also named Indysh. These mines need more investigation.
So far Pyrite bearing chlorite schist and basalt were found in the area. The
schist comes from a local gravel pit.
Pyrite
Mount Jemorakly Tyube is a ~3000m high peak in the western Bolshoi Kavkaz. The mountain is entirely composed of serpentinites. The serpentinites originate from iherzolite and saxonite rocks with little dunite. Jemorakly Tyube is part of a series of similar serpentinite intrusions spread along the Kefar Agur river. The western slope of Jemorakly Tyube is a small chromite deposit, spread over several meters. It is mentioned as Geikielite locality by Efremov, Am Min Vol 59 (1959) p395.
mineralogy
Antigorite 'Chrysotile' Chromite Geikielite
 Antigorite |
 Chrysotile |
Geikielite from Mount Jemorakly Tyube, North Caucasus, USSR, N. Efremov, Am Min Vol 59 (1959) p395-396
geology
Kazar-Kan is a mercury deposit located 20km from Gapca and 50km from Beledzhi in
Dagestan. The deposit consists of a single layer of of Jurassic sandstone,
containing 'mercury ores'. I assume it would be Cinnabar.
Gmelin-Krauts Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie, Hg
geology
Kholst is a lead zinc deposit in Severnaya Ossetia. It is located in the
Sadon-Unal anticline. The Sadon-Unal anticline has a core of Paleozoic granites
and edges of Jurassic effusive rocks, sandstone and shales. The hydrothermal
veins are usually situated perpendicular to the fold and mainly in the granite,
but they also occur in the Jurassic sediments. The deposit is formed in the late
Cimmerian.
mineralogy
Barite Galena Pyrite Quartz Siderite Sphalerite
Geology of Ore Deposits, V.I. Smirnov, 1976, p314 - 316
geology
Khpeka is located about 52km south of the Beledzhi railway station in Dagestan.
It is a hydrothermal mercury deposit in Jurassic sandstone.
mineralogy
Cinnabar Kaolinite Mercury Pyrite
Gmelin-Krauts Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie, Hg
geology
Khudes is a Variscan pyritic copper deposit, located northwest of Elbrus
volcano. Khudes river runs not far east of Elbrusskiy deposit.
mineralogy
Pyrite (Khudes has probably similarities with Urup)
geology
Kti Teberda is a tungsten deposit, part of the Kurgashin-Chat ore field, located
in the Bolshoi Kavkaz, along the way to the Dombai ski resort (but very hard to
reach). The country rock
consists of precambrian metamorphic rocks (gneiss) of the Teberda-Digora anticlynorium.
Within this structure occur W-E orientated faults, dykes and amphibolite bodies.
The Kti Teberda deposit consist of sulphide-Scheelite mineralisation within
the amphibolite bodies.
Kti Teberda shows a very interesting rock-related zoning. The hydrothermal veins
cut both the gneiss and the amphibolite. Interesting mineralisation only occurs
where the veins cut the amphiloblite and not when they cut through gneiss.
Other far less known deposits in the Kurgashin-Chat orefield include: Verkhne and Nizhne Dupukh (or Dupur?), Ak, Khalega and Bolshoi Marka. All located in pretty inhospitable terrain west of Kti Teberda.
mineralogy
Arsenopyrite Galena Gustavite Pyrrhotine Quartz Scheelite Sphalerite
Gneiss
http://www.igem.ru/igem/ored/ref3.htm
Geology of Ore Deposits, V.I. Smirnov 1976, p287
geology
Kyshkyt river is a mercury deposit in Dagestan. The deposit consists of lower
Permian quartz albite porphyr and sandstone.
mineralogy
Albite Barite Calcite Cinnabar Quartz
Gmelin-Krauts Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie, Hg
Lakargi Gora
geology
Lakargi mountain is located about 10 kilometers northwest Verkhne Chegem.
Mount Lakargi locality is actually the Verkhne Chegem Caldera located
further west between mount Mount Lakargi itself and Mount Vorland. The caldera
consists of young tertiary ignimbrite, which came into contact with jurassic
limestone, forming metasomatically altered xenoliths.
mineralogy
Afwillite Albite Allophane Aragonite Baghdadite Bohmite Brucite
Calcio-Olivine Calcite Cuspidine Ettringite Fluorellestadite Hematite
Hillebrandite Hydrocalumite Hydroxylellestatite Jennite Kimzeyite Lakargiite
Larnite Periclase Perowskite Plombierite Quartz Reinhardbraunsite Rondorfite
Saponite Spurrite Sturmanite Thaumasite Wadalite Xonotlite Zeophyllite
Galuskin E.V. et. al. 2008 Amer. Min. 93, P1903-1910
Mushte river
geology
The Mushte river gold deposit consists of red paleozoic granites
mineralogy
Gold
geology
Malka is a secondary iron ore deposit. The area consists of Paleozoic sandstones
and shales, folded by a Hercynian peridotite massif. The peridotite developed
into serpentinites and weathered to a limonite iron ore deposit. There are minor
amounts of chromium, manganese and nickel in the ores. The Malka deposit is
situated along the Malka river in Kabardino-Balkaria. The mineralogy here is
probably not interesting for collectors and only fine grained and massive. The
ores are shallow so any mining would be by open pit method.
Slightly northwest of what is known as the Malka deposit serpentine rock also surfaces near Bermamyt. I assume this originates from the same peridotite massif.
mineralogy
Chromite Goethite Hematite Magnetite Nontronite
Serpentine rock
Geology of ore deposits, V.I. Smirnov, 1976, p370-371
"Nickel mine", Adygea
'Nikel' was a town in Agygea until 2002. It was a mining town in the Dakhovskoye Belorechensk area. In reality it was a uranium mine, but as with SDAG Wismut in Saxony, they used another chemical element as code, this time they chose nickel. See Belorechensk for more information.
geology
See Belorechensk.
mineralogy
Barite Calcite Chalcopyrite Fluorite Galena Marcassite 'Psilomelane' Pyrite
Sphalerite
The psilomelane above, might very well contain cobalt and be actually asbolane. It would certainly fit the paragenese better. Also I found inclusions in calcite from here that looks quite a bit like Millerite.
 Asbolane? |
 Calcite |
 Garnierite |
 Pyrite |
Many thanks to Sergey for specimen and information!
geology
Skala Parus (translated sail rock) is a large wall of sandstone standing in the
Black sea along the coast, about 17km south of Gelendzhik. It is a Flysch
rock, which in this case means a glauconite rich sandstone. The flysch of Parus
rock contains occasionally calcite crystals. Skala Parus is a natural
monument. Do not attack it with hammers and chisels! My specimen was just
collected from the ground at the bottom of the monolith
mineralogy
Calcite Glauconite
 Calcite |
 Glauconite |
geology
Psebai is mentioned as locality in several paleontological publications as
permian and triassic limestone locality. On satellite images a large quarry is
visible northwest of the village. The specimen below was however found at a
roadcut just south of the town.
mineralogy
Calcite Gypsym Marcassite
Calcite
Sadon deposit
geology
The Sadon deposit is a lead-zinc vein deposit, located in Severnaya Ossetia.
Exploration started here in 1853 and the deposit is worked out by now.
Geologically the Sadon deposit is located in the Sadon-Zgid anticline. Jurassic
eruptives are overlain by a paleozoic granite. This granite passes into
granodiorites in some occasions and they form aplites and pegmatites. The rock
is cut by hydrothermal ore bearing veins.
mineralogy
Arsenopyrite Azurite Barite Bismuth Calcite Cerussite Chalcopyrite Galena
Malachite Molybdenite Phosgenite Pyrite Pyrrhotite Quartz Siderite Smithsonite
Sphalerite Tetrahedrite
Ore Deposits of the USSR, V.I. Smirnov, 1977, Vol II pp198-201
Sakhala
(Sakhalinskoye)
Sakhala mining started in 1970. Due to problems with underground mining, mining seized in 1990 and the site was abandoned in 1993. The mine is remotely located about 10km south of Sinegorsk in Krasnodar Kray. In some references the mine is referred to as Krasnodarskiy mine.
geology
The Sakhala deposit is located in the northwestern Caucasus in the Bezep ore
region. The surrounding rocks are lower Cretaceous sandstones, siltstones and
clay with lenses of limestone. The rocks were subjected to Alpine folding.
The deposit is of the quartz-dickite-cinnabar type, to which the famous
Nikitovka deposit in the Ukraine also belongs
mineralogy
Antimonite Arsenopyrite Calcite Chalcopyrite Cinnabar Dickite Mercury Orpiment
Pyrite Quartz Realgar Siderite Sphalerite Tetrahedrite
 Cinnabar |
Ore Deposits of the USSR, V.I. Smirnov, 1977, Vol II pp310-312
Assessment of Mercury Releases from the Russian Federation, March 2005, Danish
Environmental Protection Agency
mineralogy
Arsenopyrite Gold
Skalistoye deposit
geology
The Skalistoye deposit is located in the same complex as the Urup copper
deposit. See there for a more detailed description of the geology. Skalitoye is
located roughly 250 meters below the Urup deposit in the diabase horizont.
A well known skarn deposit in Kaberdino-Balkaria Respublikum. The oldest
rocks of the deposit are Upper Devonian (Famennian) marbles, sandstones and
shales. They are overlain by lower carboniferous volcanogenic rocks and tuffs
and by Middle and Upper Carboniferous sediments. In the early Jurassic
ultramafic rocks intruded, followed by granites of the Eldzhurta intrusion.
Obviously the most interesting mineralogy can be found in the skarns at the
contact of the Devonian limestone and the Eldzhurta granites. There are also
some younger rhyolites and basalts
A sublocality is Malo Tyrnyauz, located at the periphery of the deposit. It is
here where most of antimony mineralogy occurs.
mineralogy
Alabandite Allanite-(Ce) Andradite Antimonite Arsenopyrite Baksanite Bismuth
Bismuthinite Boulangerite Brochantite Bursaite Cannizzarite Chalcanthite
Chalcopyrite Chalcostibite Cinnabar Cosalite Cuspidine Epsomite Ferrimolybdite
Fluorapophyllite Fluorite Fluoroapatite Galena Galenobismuthite Giessenite Gold
Gypsum Huntite Ilvaite Ingodite Joseite-A Lapieite Lillianite Magnesite
Magnetite Malachite Maldonite Molybdenite Pilsenite Powellite Pyrrhotite Quartz
Rorisite Scheelite Sergeevite Sphalerite Stilpnomelane Sulphotsumoite
Tellurobismutite Tetradymite Titanite Tsumoite Ullmannite Zinckenite
 Andradite |
 Ilvaite |
 Joseite-A |
 Molybdenite |
 Scheelite |
 Tetradymite |
 Tsumoite |
Geology of mineral deposits, V.I. Smirnov, 1977, p170-171
Urup copper deposit
history
The modern history of the Urup copper deposit started in 1911, when Vasiliy
Nikolaevich Robinson prospected the area. Robinson did find traces of ancient
copper mining and rich copper reserves. At the time his reports reached the
czar, the czar had other problems to deal with, with the upcomming worldwar and
subsequent revolution. Later in 1935 a second prospect was conducted, confirming
Robinson's finds.Serious mining started as late as 1947.
geology
Located in Karachaevo-Cherkessk Respublikum. It is a hydrothermal copper
deposit within the Laba-Malka tectonic zone. Geologically the Urup deposit
consists of lower and middle Devonian metamorphic and (volcano-)sedimentary
rocks, consisting of sandstone, diabase, quartz-albitophyres, rhyolite and
various tuffs. There are different chalcopyrite deposits in the volcanogenic
sequences. The Urup deposit is just one of them, located at the base of the
tuffs. The Verkhnee-, Skalistoye and Vlasinchikha deposits
are located in other layers of this volcanic sequence. In the landscape they are
only separated a few kilometers from each other. The Devonian ores are partially
covered by Permian and lower jurassic sediments. The germanium mineralogy is of
course most interesting here.
Sergey visited this site, so with thanks to him a few words about the current status. Currently only one mine is in operation and there are several open cut mines and dumps, which are exhausted. Most copper seemed to be mined, and currently you will find more zinc mineralogy than copper mineralogy. Originally the main ore consisted of Bornite, which is now pretty hard to find. In addition to the listed minerals there are secondary copper minerals.
mineralogy
Acanthite Barite Betekhtinite Bornite Calcite Chalcocite Chalcopyrite Galena
Germanocolusite Gold Hematite Hessite Luzonite Magnetite Mawsonite Molybdenite
Pyrite Quartz Renierite Sphalerite Tennantite
 Bornite |
 Galena |
 Pyrite |
Ore Deposit of the USSR, V.I. Smirnov, 1979, Vol II, pp142-146
http://vladsc.narod.ru/library/stavrop/urup.htm
A greisen deposit in North Ossetia
mineralogy
Cassiterite
Verkhnee deposit
BE AWARE that there is a much better known 'Verkhnee deposit' part of Dalnegorsk, Primore
geology
The Verkhnee deposit is closely related to the Urup copper deposit. See there
for more detailed information. The Verkhnee deposit is located in the Quartz-albitophyre
tuff horizon.
Verkhne Fiagdon
Verkhne Fiagdon is a mining village in Severnaya Ossetia, about 35km southwest of Ordzhonikidze. It is a lead zinc mine of the Sadon or Alagir district. Several (closed?) mines are situated east of the village.
Vlasinchikha deposit
The Vlasinchikha deposit is closely related of the Urup copper deposit (q.v.). More precisely it is located just below the Quartz-Alitophyre horizon. See Urup for more detailed geology. The quarry closed in 1976.
geology
Zhelezhnyi Rog is located on the Taman Peninsula, just east of the Crimea
Peninsula. This quarry is the type locality for Anapaite, named after the nearby
town of Anapa.
mineralogy
Anapaite Realgar Siderite Vivianite
 Barite? |
 Anapaite |
 Vivianite |
Zgid deposit
geology
The Zgid deposit in Severnaya Ossetia is comparable with the Sadon deposit. It
consists of hydrothermal veins in Paleozoic granite. This deposit was formed in
several stages. In the first stage Quartz and finely dissiminated Pyrite where
deposited in fissures. In the second stage Manganosiderite, Magneite and
Hematite where mainly deposited, associated with minor Calcite, Quartz and
Sphalerite. The economic lead and zinc ores, Sphalerite and Galena, where formed
in the third stage.
The workings consist of at least 12 levels. The upper levels are adits, dug in the side of the mountain, wile the lower levels are completely underground. The lowermost level is called the Nadezhda level.
mineralogy
Arsenopyrite Calcite Chalcopyrite Galena Magnetite Pyrite Quartz Siderite
Sphalerite Tetrahedrite
Ore Deposit of the USSR, V.I. Smirnov, 1979, Vol II, pp201-203
Geology of Mineral Deposits, V.I. Smirnov, 1976, p284-286
