The Republic of Tatarstan is quite rich in fuel and mineral raw materials. The main wealth of the region is, of course, oil. In addition, the minerals of Tatarstan are also coal, copper, oil shale, peat, bauxite, limestone and others. This article will focus on the largest and most important deposits of this raw material.
Minerals of the Republic of Tatarstan
The republic is located in the central part of European Russia. It borders on eight subjects of the Russian Federation. It is small in area, but the region occupies the 8th place in the country in terms of population. Tatarstan is a multicultural republic. Here over 100 different nationalities coexist peacefully, and the official language is Russian and Tatar.
What minerals are there in Tatarstan? The main wealth of the region, without a doubt, is oil. Thus, oil production enterprises and companies account for almost 40% of the total revenue of the whole republic. Based on the extracted raw materials, a powerful Nizhnekamsk petrochemical cluster functions. According to the forecasts of geologists, in the depths of Tatarstan contains up to 1 billion tons of oil.
Nevertheless, the mineral resources of Tatarstan are not only oil. It is also coal and brown coal, copper and bauxite, oil shale and peat, as well as raw materials for the construction industry (limestone, dolomite, clay, etc.).
Oil in Tatarstan
Oil in the republic is extracted in only two areas: it is Zakamye and Eastern Prekamye. Its reserves are associated with Devonian and Carboniferous deposits. It is worth noting that most of the oil fields are small. Only three of them are large: these are Romashkinskoye, Bavlinskoye and Novoelkhovskoye.
The oil in Tatarstan is heavy and with large admixtures of sulfur. Together with it, as a rule, natural gas is also produced along the way (for each tonne of oil produced - about 40 cubic meters of gas). In addition, there are separate gas condensate deposits in the republic.
Republic of Tatarstan: mineral deposits
Currently, 127 oil fields are being developed in Tatarstan . The largest of them are Sausbash, Novoelkhov, Bavlinsky and Romashkinsky.
If we take into account other minerals of Tatarstan, then in the republic it is known about a hundred deposits of coal, which mainly lies very deep: from 1000 to 1400 meters. This makes its production not very profitable.
In the south-west of Tatarstan there are deposits of phosphorites and oil shale. However, their quality is insufficient to begin large-scale industrial production.
Also, almost throughout the Republic of Tatarstan there are deposits of various building materials. These are limestones, dolomites, clays, rubble stone, sand, gravel and crushed stone. Another mineral, the deposits of which are sufficient in Tatarstan, is peat.
Kama coal basin
This basin has enormous reserves of brown as well as gas coal, but its extraction is still unprofitable. The reason is very difficult mining and geological conditions. In general, experts estimate coal reserves at ten billion tons!
According to geologists, the Kama basin coal is quite suitable for the production of synthetic fuel and generator gas. The depth of bedding is from 1000 to 1200 meters on average. Therefore, in order to organize full-scale production, it is necessary to carry out comprehensive and expensive geological exploration.
Due to the complexity of developing coal deposits in the Kama basin, scientists propose the so-called underground coal gasification method. In their opinion, this is the only rational way to develop these deposits. In addition, some small deposits of brown coal in the basin can be used as fertilizers for agriculture.
Romashkinskoye field
This is one of the largest oil fields in Russia, which is located in the southern part of the republic. Experts estimate the total oil reserves here at five billion tons. At the same time, 2.2 billion of them have already been withdrawn. About 15 million tons of oil is extracted from it annually (which is almost 50% of the total oil production of the republic).
The development of the Romashkinskoye field (by the way, it got its name from the local village of Romashkino) began back in the late 40s of the 20th century. In 1948, a team of oil workers and geologists revealed at this place a powerful layer of the Devonian age. The open field in Tatarstan, based on its reserves, was immediately called the “Second Baku”.
Finally...
Thus, the main mineral resources of Tatarstan are oil, coal, oil shale, copper, peat, limestones and dolomites. However, the main wealth and resource of the republic today is oil.