In addition to the well-known oil and gas, there are other equally important minerals. These include ores that are mined to obtain ferrous and non-ferrous metals by processing. The presence of ore deposits is the we alth of any country.
What are ores?
Each of the natural sciences answers this question in its own way. Mineralogy defines an ore as a set of minerals, the study of which is necessary to improve the processes of extracting the most valuable of them, and chemistry studies the elemental composition of the ore in order to identify the qualitative and quantitative content of valuable metals in it.
Geology considers the question: "what are ores?" from the point of view of the expediency of their industrial use, since this science studies 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 are areas on the surface of the Earth, on which, due to geological processes, a sufficient amount of mineral formations has accumulated for industrial use.
Ore formation
Thus, to the question: “what are ores?” The most complete answer is this. Ore is a rock with an industrial content of metals in it. Only in this case it has value. Metal ores are formed when the magma that contains their compounds cools. At the same time, they crystallize, distributing 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 left from the magma spreads through the voids. The elements contained in it, solidifying, form veins. Rocks, being destroyed under the influence of natural forces, are deposited at the bottom of reservoirs, forming sedimentary deposits. Depending on the composition of the rocks, various metal ores are formed.
Iron ore
The types of these minerals vary greatly. What are ores, in particular, iron? If the ore contains enough metal for industrial processing, it is called iron ore. They differ in origin, chemical composition, as well as 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 carbonic s alts of iron oxide. The developed ores include red, brown and magnetic iron ore, as well as iron luster - they are considered the richest and contain metalmore than 50%. The poor include those in which the useful composition is less - 25%.
Composition of iron ore
Magnetic iron ore is iron oxide. It contains more than 70% pure metal, but in deposits it occurs together with sulfur pyrites, and sometimes with zinc blende and other formations. Magnetic iron ore is considered the best of the ores used. Iron shine also contains up to 70% iron. Red iron ore - iron oxide - is one of the sources of extraction of pure metal. And brown analogues have up to 60% metal content and are found with impurities, sometimes harmful. They are hydrous iron oxide and accompany almost all iron ores. They are also convenient for the ease of extraction, processing, however, the metal obtained from this type of ore is of low quality.
According to the origin of iron ore deposits, they are divided into three large groups.
- Endogenous, or magmatogenic. Their formation is due to geochemical processes that took place in the depths of the earth's crust, magmatic phenomena.
- Exogenous, or surface, deposits were created as a result of processes occurring in the near-surface zone of the earth's crust, that is, at the bottom of lakes, rivers, oceans.
- Metamorphogenic deposits were formed at a sufficient depth from the earth's surface under the influence of high pressure and the same temperatures.
Reserves of iron ore in the country
Russia is rich in various deposits. The largest in the world is the Kursk magnetic anomaly, containing almost 50% of allworld reserves. In this region, a magnetic anomaly was noted already in the 18th century, but the development of deposits began only in the 30s of the last century. The ore reserves in this basin are high in pure metal, they are measured in billions of tons, and mining is carried out by open pit or underground mining.
Bakchar iron ore deposit, which is one of the largest in the country and the world, was discovered in the 60s of the last century. The ore reserves in it with a concentration of pure iron up to 60% are about 30 billion tons.
In the Krasnoyarsk Territory there is the Abagasskoye deposit - with magnetite ores. It was discovered back in the 30s of the last century, but its development began only half a century later. In the Northern and Southern zones of the basin, open-pit mining is carried out, and the exact amount of reserves is 73 million tons.
Opened in 1856, the Abakan iron ore deposit is still active. At first, the development was carried out in an open way, and since the 60s of the XX century - by an underground method at a depth of up to 400 meters. The content of pure metal in the ore reaches 48%.
Nickel ores
What is nickel ores? Mineral formations that are used for the industrial production of this metal are called nickel ores. There are sulfide copper-nickel ores with a pure metal content of up to four percent and silicate nickel ores, the same indicator of which is up to 2.9%. The first type of deposits is usually of the igneous type, and silicate ores are foundin places of weathering crust.
The development of the nickel industry in Russia is connected with the development of their location in the Middle Urals in the middle of the 19th century. Almost 85% of sulphide deposits are concentrated in the Norilsk region. The deposits in Taimyr are the largest and most unique in the world in terms of richness of reserves and variety of minerals; they contain 56 elements of the periodic table. In terms of the quality of nickel ores, Russia is not inferior to other countries, the advantage is that they contain additional rare elements.
On the Kola Peninsula, about ten percent of nickel resources are concentrated in sulphide deposits, and silicate deposits are being 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 extraction, uneven distribution on the territory of the country, mismatch between the region where resources are located and the population density.
