Huge deposits of minerals can be hidden in the earth's crust. Places where such an accumulation makes expedient the extraction of iron ore and other resources are called basins. Thus, iron ore basins are one of the main sources of mining valuable for the country metal. I would like to talk more about one of these large pools. The Kursk magnetic anomaly is located near the city of Zheleznogorsk, it was founded at the GOK in the late 60s. Nevertheless, this city is quite large, almost a hundred thousand people live there. It is considered the second largest among the cities of the Kursk region.
The Kursk magnetic anomaly is a huge and rich basin, one of the most powerful in the world in terms of iron ore reserves (about 31 billion tons). The basin stretches for a distance of about 600 kilometers and is located in several regions of Russia: Belgorod, Oryol, Bryansk and Kursk. Iron ore deposits include ferruginous and magnetite quartzites, Precambrian granitoids. They are developed by underground and open pit methods (for example, at Korobkovsky, Mikhailovsky, Lebedinsky and Stoilensky mines). The Kursk anomaly is also rich in land resources, chernozem with a humus content of 5 to 13%. Due to active ore mining, fertile soil loses its area and decreases rapidly.
The Kursk magnetic anomaly was investigated in Soviet times, in 1931. The largest enterprise for the development of its deposits at this time is the Lebedinsky joint-stock company of a mining and processing enterprise. The width of the quarries reaches five kilometers, the depth is about 700 meters.
Some large KMA deposits were discovered much later than the first, in the 60s of the last century. This anomaly was accidentally discovered by academician P. B. Inokhodtsev at the end of the 18th century when compiling land surveying maps in the European part of Russia. When scientists conducted research in the Belgorod region, the magnetic arrow instead of pointing to the north began to spin wildly. A hundred years later, Associate Professor of Kazan University I.N. Smirnov, who conducted a geomagnetic survey, faced this strange anomaly. And only nine years later, an associate professor from Kharkov, N. D. Pilchikov, conducted special research in the field of studying the Kursk magnetic anomaly and realized that there are huge deposits of minerals. He found new areas of deposits. A huge merit in the study of KMA belongs to Professor E. E. Leist, who for many years studied the boundaries of the anomaly and the depth of mineral deposits in it. Since 1920, the commission began to study it more carefully under the leadership of I. M. Gubkin. After the war, there was an active reconnaissance drilling, as a result of which rich deposits of iron ore were discovered.
In the 60s, Lebedinsky and Mikhailovsky mines began to operate, in 1969 - the Stoilensky mine. They are notable for surface deposits of minerals and low water cut. Deposits of bauxite, cement raw materials, phosphorites, building clay and sand were found in the rock of the platform cover of Precambrian. On the base In the future, the Kursk magnetic anomaly is planning the construction of a huge industrial complex of world significance with the extraction of iron ore up to many tens of millions of tons per year.
The Prioskolskoye deposit is being developed by the metallurgical plant of the city of Magnitogorsk - iron ore reserves here are about 45 million tons, including ferrous non-oxidized quartzites. Mikhailovsky is one of the oldest and largest deposits. It is located near the small town of Zheleznogorsk, mineral reserves here are about eleven billion tons and are developed by the Mikhailovsky mining and processing plant. Chernyansky mine has reserves of about two billion tons of iron ore and is located at a shallow depth of 160-200 meters. Currently, the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly is a major global supplier of iron ore and stores many more rich mineral deposits.