Minerals of the Leningrad Region: actively exploited and promising

The area, centered on St. Petersburg, is relatively rich in minerals. Significant deposits in this territory have not been identified, unpromising and unprofitable deposits are eliminated at the preliminary stage, but the promising ones are actively exploited.

General characteristics of the region

The territory of the region in full is located on the East European (Russian) plain. The highest point does not reach even three hundred meters above sea level. It is the flat nature of the relief that explains why the ore minerals of the Leningrad Region are practically absent. But there are non-metallic, most of which are actively used in construction. On the territory of the region there is a ramified and developed river network, there are almost two thousand lakes, including the largest in Europe - Ladoga.

The region is located in the taiga zone, so it is rich in forests (coniferous in the north and mixed in the south), which occupy more than half of the territory of the region. Much of the place is swamped. But this did not prevent the almost complete study of the region on the availability of mineral resources. The map of minerals in the Leningrad Region is given below.

Availability of minerals

Of the twenty-six names of minerals identified on the territory of the region, only six are classified as ore minerals. At the same time, more than five hundred deposits were explored, but less than twenty percent are exploited. The minerals of the Leningrad Region are tectonically related - the territory is located at the junction of tectonic structures. Therefore, the northern parts are rich in deposits of solid building materials - granite, stone, gravel, sand. Powerful layers of sedimentary rocks of the southern part contain phosphorites and combustible shales, bauxites, limestones and dolomites. Virtually evenly distributed throughout the region are deposits of peat, sand, clay. The water area of the Gulf of Finland contains small deposits of iron-manganese ores. In addition, there are several radon sources and mineral thermal waters in the region.

Completely mastered minerals

According to the degree of development of deposits, several groups should be identified, of which the mineral resources of the Leningrad Region are composed. The list should begin with fully developed minerals, which include schists, phosphates and bauxites.

The greatest role for industrial application is given to bauxite. The occurrence of ores near Boksitogorsk is shallow, so the extraction is conducted mainly in an open pit. The extraction of shale near the city of the same name occurs by the mine method, because the depth of their occurrence reaches three hundred meters. Phosphorite raw materials are mined near Kingisepp.

Partial development

Partially mastered minerals are different types of building materials. Minerals of the Leningrad region are rich in granite, limestone, construction and shaping sand, brick and refractory clay. The extraction of granite is carried out in the northern part of the Karelian Isthmus by an open method.

The richest deposits of limestone are located in the eastern part of the region. The main sources of mineral water are carbonic acid (directly in St. Petersburg), sulfuric (near Sablino) and sodium chloride (near Sestroretsk). A large number of marshes served as the basis for the availability of peat deposits on an industrial scale. Its places of application - the fuel industry and agriculture - have recently switched to other materials. Therefore, peat reserves, located ubiquitously, but mainly in the south and east, are practically not produced.

Gold mining

The region is not rich in abundant gold deposits, but there are gold-bearing places. Basically, this metal is found in deposits of other minerals, both ore and non-ore. But its presence in these sources is rather meager. Therefore , gold mining in the Leningrad region is recognized as unprofitable and is not being conducted in an industrial way. But it is of interest for amateur mining.

The latter is especially developed in the former places of industrial mining of minerals, which are not currently exploited. There is also no mining of diamonds, although diamond pipes are present in small quantities in the region.

Prospects

There are also minerals of the Leningrad Region, whose deposits are not involved at all in operation. This includes deposits of dolomite, mineral paint, quartzite and clay. In addition, some types of minerals are under development, the deposits of which are found in the region. This magnetite ore, colored and ornamental stones, oil, gas and bitumen.