In addition to the well-known oil and gas, there are other equally important minerals. These include ores that are mined to produce ferrous and non-ferrous metals by processing. The presence of ore deposits is the wealth of any country.
What is ore?
Each of the natural sciences in its own way answers this question. Mineralogy defines ore as a combination of minerals, the study of which is necessary to improve the extraction of the most valuable of them, and chemistry studies the elemental composition of the ore to identify the qualitative and quantitative content of valuable metals in it.
Geology considers the question: "what is ore?" from the point of view of the appropriateness of their industrial use, since this science is studying the structure and processes occurring in the bowels of the planet, the conditions for the formation of rocks and minerals, and the exploration of new mineral deposits. They represent areas on the surface of the Earth where, due to geological processes, a sufficient amount of mineral formations has accumulated for industrial use.
Ore formation
Thus, to the question: “what is ore?” the most complete answer is this. Ore is a rock with an industrial content of metals in it. Only in this case does it have value. Metal ores are formed during cooling of magma, which contains their compounds. At the same time, they crystallize, distributed according to their atomic weight. The heaviest ones settle to the bottom of the magma and stand out in a separate layer. Other minerals form rocks, and the hydrothermal fluid remaining from magma flows through the voids. The elements contained in it, solidifying, form veins. Rocks, collapsing under the influence of natural forces, are deposited at the bottom of reservoirs, forming sedimentary deposits. Various metal ores are formed depending on the composition of the rocks.
Iron ore
The types of these minerals vary widely. What are ores, in particular iron? If the ore contains enough metal for industrial processing, it is called iron. They differ in origin, chemical composition, as well as in the content of metals and impurities that may be useful. As a rule, these are associated non-ferrous metals, for example, chromium or nickel, but there are also harmful ones - sulfur or phosphorus.
The chemical composition of iron ores is represented by its various oxides, hydroxides or carbon dioxide salts of iron oxide. The ores being developed include red, brown and magnetic iron ore, as well as iron luster - they are considered the richest and contain more than 50% metal. The poor are those in which the useful composition is less - 25%.
Iron ore composition
Magnetic iron is iron oxide. It contains more than 70% of pure metal, but in deposits it is found together with sulfur pyrite, and sometimes with zinc blende and other formations. Magnetic iron ore is considered the best ore used. Iron luster also contains up to 70% of iron. Red iron ore - iron oxide - is one of the sources of pure metal mining. And brown analogues have up to 60% metal content and are found with impurities, sometimes harmful. They are aqueous iron oxide and accompany almost all iron ores. They are also convenient for ease of mining, processing, but the metal obtained from this type of ore is of poor quality.
According to the origin of the iron ore deposits, they are divided into three large groups.
- Endogenous, or magmatogenous. Their formation is due to geochemical processes occurring in the depths of the earth's crust, magmatic phenomena.
- Exogenous, or surface, deposits were created due to processes occurring in the surface zone of the earth's crust, that is, at the bottom of lakes, rivers, and oceans.
- Metamorphogenic deposits were formed at a sufficient depth from the earth's surface under the influence of high pressure and the same temperatures.
Iron ore reserves in the country
Russia is rich in various deposits. The largest in the world is the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, which contains almost 50% of all world reserves. In this region, a magnetic anomaly was noted already in the XVIII century, however, the development of deposits began only in the 30s of the last century. Ore reserves in this basin with a high content of pure metal, they are measured in billions of tons, and mining is conducted by open or underground method.
The Bakcharsky iron ore deposit, which is one of the largest in the country and the world, was discovered in the 60s of the last century. Ore reserves in it with a concentration of pure iron up to 60% are about 30 billion tons.
In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Abagassky deposit is located - with magnetite ores. It was opened back in the 30s of the last century, but it began to be developed only after half a century. In the North and South areas of the basin, open pit mining is carried out, and the exact amount of reserves is 73 million tons.
Discovered back in 1856, the Abakan iron ore deposit is still active. At first, the development was conducted in an open way, and since the 60s of the XX century - in an underground way at a depth of up to 400 meters. The content of pure metal in the ore reaches 48%.
Nickel Ores
What is nickel ore? The mineral formations that are used for the industrial production of this metal are called nickel ores. There are sulfide copper-nickel with a pure metal content of up to four percent and silicate nickel ores, a similar indicator of up to 2.9%. The first type of deposits is usually of the magmatic type, and silicate ores are located in places of weathering crust.
The development of the nickel industry in Russia is associated with the development of their location in the Middle Urals in the middle of the XIX century. Almost 85% of sulfide deposits are concentrated in the Norilsk region. Deposits in Taimyr by the wealth of reserves and variety of minerals are the largest and most unique in the world, they contain 56 elements of the periodic table. Russia is not inferior to other countries in the quality of nickel ores; the advantage is that they contain additionally rare elements.
About ten percent of nickel resources in sulfide deposits are concentrated on the Kola Peninsula, and silicate deposits are developed in the Middle and Southern Urals.
Russian ores are characterized by the quantity and variety required for industrial applications. However, at the same time, they are distinguished by difficult natural conditions of production, uneven distribution on the territory of the country, and mismatch between the region where the resources are allocated and the population density.