The Economic Geology of the Ovruch Quartzite and Sandstone Deposits Northern Ukraine -Transition from Soviet Controlled Operations to Free Market Enterprises

摘要

The Ovruch quartzite and sandstone deposits are located in the northwest part of the Ukrainian shield and in the central part of the Slovechan-Ovruch synclinal feature. The quartzite deposits of economic interest in the Ovruch area are Proterozoic in age and the overlying sandstone deposits of economic interest are Pleistocene (middle Quaternary) in age. Mining of quartzite for decorative applications began around 980 AD and continues to the present. Other applications for the quartzite include the following: 1. Raw material for fireproof brick and ferroalloy in ferrous metallurgy. 2. High-aluminum-content portions of the deposit are unsuitable for metallurgical applications but are used as aggregate. The overlying sandstone meets specifications for the following: 1. Foundry sand applications 2. Fiberglass production 3. Filtration uses There are two producing companies in the Ovruch area whose annual output of quartzite mined by open pit methods during the Soviet era was about 10 million tons. In recent times output from these mines has dropped to around 1.2 million tons annually. The fall of the Soviet Union resulted in the loss of markets due to non-competitive transportation infrastructure; quality control issues with applications in ferrous metallurgy; changes in steel making technology due to modernization of steel mills; and utilization of metallurgical-grade quartzite from mines in closer to the steel mills. In order to widen the product line with a potentially more valuable industrial mineral, the sandstone deposit overlying the quartzite was investigated for its suitability in a wide variety of applications. Ongoing evaluations of the sandstone and development of high value products coupled with the development of new markets in Western Europe for the quartzite have enabled these formerly Soviet-controlled companies to begin the difficult transition to profitable organizations in the free market.