Famous Mineral Localities: Volodarsk-Volynski Zhitomir Oblast, Ukraine

摘要

By 1996 the rich mineral specimen output from the former Soviet Union was diminishing and the supply of Ukrainian heliodor crystals had been nearly exhausted, but mining continued on a reduced scale. Open-pit mining was taking place in one pegmatite, yielding bi-colored topaz in late 2008 and the spring of 2009. Investigations aimed at locating previously missed weathered pegmatite bodies in or under the 10 to 40 meters of kaolinized granite overburden continued for a while. But during the summer of 2009, only a little digging took place in the open pits, turning up some small topaz crystals for cutting. By August 2009 all mining in the district had ended. The exhaustion and closing of such a rich and fascinating group °f deposits is a sad development for mineral collectors. But the most important legacy from a scientific standpoint is the fact that the reworking of pockets in the last few years has been conducted carefully, with more documentation than ever before in the mines' history.