You and I are all well aware that Golden fever shook California, Siberia and even Finland. Today we will lift the veil of secrecy over the gold rush in the Russian south. Recently, the resort city hosted the exhibition “Myths and Truths about Sochi Gold”. Thanks to her, interesting facts came to light...

History of the gold rush in Sochi

It all started quite a long time ago. Even in tsarist times, information about gold finds in the south of the country leaked into the periodical press. Thus, in 1902, the Stavropol newspaper “North Caucasus” wrote: “Recently there has been a gold mining fever in Sochi. A month ago, some Mingrelian shepherd found in the mountains a piece of quartz speckled with grains of gold, and he said that he knew places where there was a lot of “golden stone”.<...>He talked about huge rocks, entirely consisting of “golden stone”, about caves and dry streams, at the bottom of which, in the sand, grains of gold glitter, and all this is so close, some ten to fifteen miles from Sochi "

Back in the 19th century, the Russian Empire began searching for gold in the Caucasus. Geologist A. Loransky in 1872 he wrote in the Mining Journal: “ In the Caucasus and beyond the Caucasus, the right to engage in gold mining was granted to people of every rank and status, with the exception of those convicted in court of reprehensible acts. Permission to produce gold was given by the governor of the Caucasus, and the mined gold was handed over to the Tiflis Assay Office.”

Karolitskhali River in the Caucasus Mountains. Photo from 1910, S.M. Prokudin-Gorsky

Of course, there were those who never used the services of an assay office and sold the mined gold not to the state, but to private individuals.

At the beginning of the 20th century, around the 20s. gold mining was carried out by mining teams.

In addition to Sochi, the mines were located near the Mzymta and Kudepsta rivers. But large-scale gold mining did not take place there, but in the upper reaches of the Laba River in the Kuban. In 1929, gold was found in the Kuban, Zelenchuk, Teberda, Bzykha, Belaya, Lipovaya, Berezovaya, Kamyshin, and Gorelaya rivers.

Gold mining in Soviet times. Photo from 1923.

The result was that in 1932, gold mining began in the North Caucasus under state supervision. And the NKVD, after one.

This is what they write in the Sochi Pravda newspaper dated September 9, 1935: “The Azcherzoloto Trust fulfilled its August gold mining plan 100 percent. At the end of August, the new Shakhe-Golovinka mine was put into operation. At the Kotel mine, prospector Tevosyan recently found a nugget weighing 85 grams. At the Sochi mine, Maksimov’s team of prospectors found a nugget weighing 25 grams. This is the first large gold nugget discovered at the Sochi mine.”

And the largest piece of gold was mined in the vicinity of Sochi in 1946. It was at the mine of the Sevkavzoloto combine, when a team of prospectors Konstantina Rudenko I was lucky to find a nugget weighing 234 grams. For the find, gold miners received not only a salary with a bonus, but also an “appendage” of various popular, but then rare manufactured goods and groceries (1500 kg of flour, 122 kg of sugar, 94 kg of meat, 122 kg of cereal different types). Let us remember that times were difficult, post-war, and all this was really worth its weight in gold.

However, the mines did not last forever, and in the 1950s finds became scarce. At the same time, the mining of southern gold was curtailed.

Gold mining near Sochi today - is it possible?

Of course, the golden times were not forgotten by the locals. Legends about the countless Sochi gold medals, which have nothing to do with the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, are passed on from mouth to mouth. Some claim that they know where to find “big gold nuggets.”

However, if locals find gold, they prefer not to talk about it, since gold mining by private individuals is illegal in Russia. For this, considerable fines are imposed - up to 100 thousand rubles.

Rosgeology experts have completed the first stage of research into the Kakadur gold ore zone of the Afchandur-Lamardon ore field. This facility is located in the mountains of North Ossetia, approximately 40 kilometers from the capital of the republic - Vladikavkaz.

The work is being carried out by a division of the state holding - North Caucasian PGO, located in Essentuki. Geologists had a goal - to find and localize objects of gold mineralization in order to find out how much precious metal the rock contains.

As the RG correspondent was told at Rosgeologia, experts are in no hurry to call the object a deposit, since it can be considered as such only after the subsequent assessment stage. Nevertheless, three intervals of gold mineralization with a thickness of 2.8-6.2 meters have already been discovered. The gold content in them is 0.8-3.76 grams per ton, copper - up to 0.34 percent, zinc - up to 3.78 percent and lead - up to 0.5 percent.

“Now experts are tracing the directions of the ore area. Rosgeology is engaged in its study in North Ossetia and the search for gold-quartz-sulfide ores within the framework of a government contract concluded between the holding and the subsoil use department in the North Caucasus Federal District in September 2017. Until the end of 2019- Geologists intend to find all objects of gold mineralization in the region and estimate the forecast reserves of the precious metal,” the department specified.

By the way, the Kakadur ore zone is the only potential deposit of the precious metal on the territory of this Caucasian republic. Soviet scientists knew about it, Anton Sergeev, adviser to the general director of Rosgeologia, told a RG correspondent:

All ore zones, within which prospecting work is currently underway to discover gold, have been known since the 1970s and have been studied in some detail by geologists of North Ossetia for deposits of polymetallic and lead-zinc ores.

At the same time, Sergeev did not name the approximate volumes of the precious metal. This will become clear in the third quarter of 2019, when the third stage of work under the government contract begins. Therefore, it is premature to talk about the future fate of the Kakaduri ore zone.

Gloomy prospects

However, earlier approximate estimates of gold reserves in North Ossetia and neighboring Kabardino-Balkaria were given by the Department of Subsoil Use of the North Caucasus Federal District. As stated by the head of the department, Stanislav Vertiy, in total we can talk about forecasted resources of 150 tons. Of these, Ossetia accounts for 20 tons of category P1 (preliminarily estimated), another 30 tons are classified as category P2 (estimated).

A deposit of gold and silver in the North Caucasus - Raduzhnoe - was also discovered in Kabardino-Balkaria. Exploration work on the western side of the Dzhuargen area in the mountains of the CBD began in the third quarter of 2017. Experts are looking for gold ores in the rocks of the Front Range. According to preliminary estimates, we are talking about 100 tons of precious metal of categories P1 and P2.

Now gold mining is mainly carried out by private companies, whose areas of interest, as a rule, include medium and large deposits. Raduzhnoe belongs to the category of small ones; its development has not yet attracted the interest of investors. Therefore, the gold of Kabardino-Balkaria is waiting in the wings. Now the deposit has been accepted on the state balance sheet of the territorial commission for reserves, which was created on the basis of the subsoil use department of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.

Optimism curbed

At the end of 2017, the head of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, Dmitry Donskoy, announced that gold reserves with a possible volume of about 100 tons had been discovered in Dagestan. We are talking about the Kurush-Mazinsky ore field in the Dokuzparinsky district.

The republic reacted to the information with restrained optimism. Preliminary results of geological exploration do not yet confirm that it makes sense to mine gold on an industrial scale. Moreover, at the moment there are no necessary economic calculations. Another disadvantage is that the project may be too expensive, since the proposed field is located in a high mountain area where there is no infrastructure.

According to the former director of the Institute of Geology of the Dagestan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vasily Cherkashin, you need to weigh the pros and cons before building an enrichment plant in the mountains:

It is necessary to think about how to establish communications. In addition, seismic activity in Dagestan should be taken into account.

According to Cherkashin, it is better to pay attention to less expensive exploration projects for gold and other minerals that may be located in the foothills of the republic. According to experts, there are mineral resources in the region, but their development projects various reasons were suspended.

One of these deposits is Kizil-Dere in southern Dagestan. Active geological exploration was carried out here from the 1960s to the 1980s. According to preliminary estimates, it is capable of producing more than a million tons of copper and about 150 thousand tons of zinc.

In the mid-2000s, a large Russian mining company even received a license to mine copper, but the project was never implemented. This happened for several reasons. One of them is high cost. So, in the mountains it was necessary to create the entire infrastructure from scratch. Another reason is that local residents, fearing environmental problems, actively opposed the project, and it had to be postponed indefinitely.

By the way, the fears were justified. As Vasily Cherkashin said, during exploration work, dumps were formed, from which harmful compounds, combining with water, began to flow into the nearby Akhty-chai and Samur rivers.

The head of the Department of Biology and Biodiversity of the Institute of Ecology and Sustainable Development of the Dagestan State University, Gayirbeg Abdurakhmanov, has been dealing with the problem of the Kizil-Dere deposit for many years. He confirmed that there are large reserves of copper here, as well as gold and silver.

The implementation of such a large-scale project would increase revenues to local and republican budgets several times, the scientist believes. - The investor planned to equip the infrastructure of nearby villages, build roads, and children's institutions. But due to the ambitions of some local officials and the disagreement of some residents, they were unable to come to an agreement with him.

Abdurakhmanov does not deny that water mixed with ore is flowing from the adits where exploration work was carried out. The mixture ends up in the Samur River, from where dozens of settlements receive drinking water. But, as the scientist believes, in the event of industrial development of the field, all environmental problems would be solved, since the law imposes strict environmental requirements on such facilities.

Khalil Khalilov, chief economist of the Real Politics Foundation:

The current financial market conditions favor an increase in the value of the yellow precious metal. But at the same time, the payback period for investments in gold mining in Dagestan will be from six to 10 years, and this is if there are no problems with the local population and environmentalists. Major players in the market, if they start mining the precious metal, will insist on the comprehensive development of licensed areas, that is, the extraction of all types of ore that are of economic interest to them. For example, in the Dokuzparinsky region this could be the mining of gold, copper and other copper-pyrite ores. In any case, until the updated reserves and licensing conditions are clear, major players will not be active in the mining industry of the republic.

What about the neighbors?

The only deposit where gold and silver is mined in the North Caucasus is located in Karachay-Cherkessia at the copper deposit in the Urup region. However, this is not a direct extraction of precious metals, but an associated extraction from copper pyrite ores. No one knows how much gold is contained in the depths of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Most of the deposits are considered off-balance - that is, extraction is considered impractical. One ton of copper ore from the Urup deposit contains 2.4 grams of gold and 37 grams of silver. On average, 450 kilograms of gold and 7.7 tons of silver are extracted from the subsoil along with ore per year. However, during beneficiation, only half of the precious metals contained in the ore are extracted. The rest is thrown into the dump.

PROBLEMS OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY

UDC 551.482.1: 669.213.1 (470.621)

BBK 26.3 V 67

Gold placers of Adygea

Annotation:

The gold content of the Belaya and Laba river basins attracted the attention of prospectors and scientists in the 20-30s of the last century. Many sources of precious metals and favorable geomorphological conditions have turned river valleys and their tributaries into industrial sites, the feasibility of studying and developing which continues to this day.

Keywords:

Placers, paleoplacers, bedrock sources, exogenous, endogenous, riverbed, valley, terrace, sand and gravel mixtures, associated mining.

Late Cenozoic and modern placers of the Caucasus have been known since time immemorial. The skillfully made items made of gold and silver in the Maikop burials date back to the 3rd millennium BC. The legend of the “Golden Fleece” is well known, i.e. about sheep skins, on which ancient miners washed gold-bearing river sand. The Svans used this method of artisanal mining even in the 20th century. The gold content of watercourses in Ossetia and Checheno-Ingushetia was established in 1767. employees of the Russian Bergkollegium. In the 1830-40s, placers were discovered on the Malka River. In 1929, a special-purpose expedition began studying the gold content of the North Caucasus, which discovered the placers of the upper reaches of the Laba River and the gold content of Permian conglomerates. In 1932 The development of placers began: first Laby, a year later - Belaya, Zelenchuk, Kuban and Teberda, which continued until the start of the war. The first attempt to systematize data on placer gold content was in 1934. article by an active participant in the search work A.G. Kobilev (future rector of the Novocherkassk Polytechnic Institute). He identified “types of alluvial accumulations: within the Jurassic formations, within the Permocarboniferous and Carboniferous, within

metamorphic strata, within longitudinal valleys and modern education alluvium in the pass zone" (Permian red flowers were considered Permian carboniferous). He considered the placers to be the most promising,

localized within the distribution of metamorphic strata and red conglomerates.

In later works (Bokarev, 1940, Bocharnikov, 1940, etc.) it was noted that the sources of gold are quartz and especially quartz-arsenopyrite veins of different ages in the granites of the Main and

metamorphites of the Peredovoy Ranges, as well as Permian, Carboniferous and Lower Jurassic conglomerates.

After the liberation of the Caucasus, in 1943. Geological exploration and mining work on the rivers was resumed. Most of the explored gold was immediately mined, sometimes by the search engines themselves. Reconnaissance was carried out

ditches, pits, drilling with Empire and Kingston rigs, sampling with trays and mines (buckets) from rafts.

On the Belaya River, active gold mining began after the organization in the village of Guzeripl of a watch area and a liberation point with an office, which were subsequently transformed into the “Mine of the Belaya River”. The first explored object in the early 30s on the Belaya River was the rich placer of the Gorelaya gully, which the discoverers staked out and worked. The maximum amount of recorded gold (13.7 kg) was mined in 1935, followed by a decrease to 90 grams in 1940. Search work 1934-35. under the leadership of P.G. Kharchenko did not reveal any new placers on the Belaya River or industrial mineralization.

In 1946 exploration and mining by prospectors in the floodplain of the Belaya River were resumed, but were also unprofitable. In 1948 V.G. Klimochkin and others noted the weak gold content of the terraces of the Belaya River in the interval from Guzeriplya to the village of Dakhovskaya, and on the Khamyshin-Bzykhi watershed they tested a quartz vein that showed 0.8 g/t gold.

From 1945 to 1949 annual gold mining ranged from 1.0 to 3.2 kg and was carried out along the Belaya River, in the interval from the mouth of the Berezovaya River to the mouth of the Maikopka gully (Podvesnaya section), but most (up to 80%) was obtained in the upper reaches, between the mouths of the river. Kisha and Berezovaya. The placers of the Gorelaya, Berezovaya, Khamyshinka and Lipovaya rivers were considered the richest.

In total, from 1932 to 1951, 1293.1 kg of chemically pure gold was mined in the North Caucasus. On the Belaya River during the same period, documented production amounted to 56.3 kg.

In 1950 prospector, and in 1952, state gold mining in the North Caucasus was stopped, ending the most important period in the history of the study of gold placers in the region.

Meanwhile, prospecting and

operational work entrusted to prospectors and state miners due to poor technical equipment

and the desire to develop the most easily accessible and rich (“lucky”) areas, could not provide material for an objective assessment of the gold placer potential of the region and the Belaya River basin, in particular. Drilling was carried out in small volumes, with small diameters; wells and pits often did not reach bedrock; search lines did not cross all elements of river valleys. Only shallow and low-water placers with sufficiently high gold contents were explored and exploited. After all such areas were worked out, prospectors and mines were left without reserves and were closed (Prokuronov, 1975).

From 1953 to 1966, no gold prospecting work was carried out. Several office reports (Lazarev, 1961, Gritskevich, 1962, Karamysheva, 1963) summarized the results of a 20-year period of gold mining and exploration and made conclusions about the prospects of the territory for placer gold.

Since 1966, the work of the Gold Search and Inspection Party began under the leadership of P.V. Prokuronov, whose tasks included identifying areas with industrial placers suitable for continuous mining, and drawing up a forecast map of placer gold deposits on a scale of 1:500,000. Methods of work: route exploration, spot testing of alluvium of riverbeds and terraces of different heights, percussion-rope drilling. A huge amount of field work was carried out: 18,500 km of routes, 10,500 concentrate samples, 12,658

linear meters of percussion-rope drilling along 32 lines at intervals of 5-10 km. The result of these works and an in-depth analysis of all available material was the report and dissertation of P.V. Prokuronov, in which conclusions were drawn regarding the gold content of the Belaya River and some general theoretical problems were identified.

Endogenous sources of placers. The most common, standard source of placers are occurrences of low-sulfide gold-quartz formation. Veins and mineralized zones of mineralization of this type are common in all geological complexes from Proterozoic to Jurassic inclusive. The Verkhnepshekhinskoye and Verkhnebelorechenskoye ore fields, the Atamazhinskoye and Assara mineralization fields in the Main Range zone (Samuro-Belorechenskoye metallogenic zone) are distinguished by the abundance of veins. In the first two, sulfides of the polymetallic group are associated with quartz, in the rest - mainly copper sulfides, less often zinc. Gold in veins is not found everywhere and usually in small quantities. A characteristic association of veins with swarms of diabase dikes of the Laura complex.

Veins and vein zones of the arsenopyrite-scheelite-quartz mineral type of the same low-sulfide formation are, as a rule, confined to essentially amphibolite metamorphic complexes: the Duppukhsky - zone of the Main Range and the Balkan - zone of the Front Range. The established gold content is low - usually up to 1 g/t. Gold was also discovered in arsenopyrite (Verkhnesakhray ore field).

Mineralization of the gold-listvenite type gravitates to zones of regional faults with bodies of altered hypermafic rocks in their cavities. The content of sulfides and gold is insignificant, the latter is up to 2-5g/t

(Belorechenskoye field, Shakhanskoye

ore occurrence).

Polysulfide sulfide ores gravitate to the volcanic complexes of the Silurian-Devonian and Jurassic.

Copper- and sulfur-pyrite ores are known in metamorphic essentially amphibolite complexes of Proterozoic and Paleozoic age (Verkhnebelorechenskoe ore field).

In polysulfide-pyrrhotite-polymetallic zones and veins, the highest gold contents are noted - up to 12 g/t (Dakhovskoe ore field, Athos occurrence).

In the last three types, the gold is usually finely divided. Its enlargement occurs in the secondary enrichment horizons of the oxidation zones of polysulfide objects.

Exogenous sources of placers. One of the probable sources of placers are disseminated sulfide ore horizons in black-colored carbonaceous rocks, both weakly altered and deeply metamorphosed: graphitic shales and

gneisses, siliceous-graphitic rocks. Any hydrothermal (vein or metasomatic) mineralization superimposed on them is accompanied by the release of finely dispersed and chemically bound (in sulfides or organometallic compounds) gold and the transition to enlarged placer-forming modifications.

The same can be said about metalliferous red-colored and variegated sediments, unaltered and metamorphosed.

Important sources are the above-mentioned intermediate reservoirs: gold-bearing

conglomerates of the Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Cenozoic. The contribution of each of these levels, with the exception of the Permian and Jurassic, has not been assessed.

In connection with the establishment of the fundamental gold content of carbonate and terrigenous-carbonate strata of the Jurassic and Triassic and the probable Devonian and Permian, as well as the development of karst and hydrothermokarst formations in all carbonate deposits, the question inevitably arises about the search for karst placers and about karst placers as a source of gold in open rivers. systems.

All any significant placers of gold in Adygea belong to the Belaya River basin. P.V. Prokuronov distinguishes in this basin (as, indeed, in other basins): placers of the Main Ridge zone, placers of the Front Range zone, placers of the Labino-Malkinsky zone and placers of the Foredeeps zone.

Placers of the river Belaya in the Main Ridge area. First of all, this is the placer of the Berezovaya River, the right tributary of the Belaya River (located south of the border of Adygea) and the placer of the Gorelaya gully, the placer of the Belaya River itself - from the mouth of Berezovaya to the mouth of the Molchepa River, approximately coinciding with the intersection of the valley of the Pshekish-River Tyrnyauz structural seam separating the zones of the Main and Advanced Ranges.

In this zone, the entire mass of alluvium is gold-bearing; empty deposits called “peat” are absent, except for local overlapping of alluvium by colluvial screes and proluvial fans of small tributaries. River sediments are characterized by significant bouldering, ranging from 40 to 70%

with boulders up to 5-7m in size, and a small proportion of sand-gravel mixture - about 5-10%.

In the riverbed deposits of the Belaya River, above the mouth of the Berezovaya, according to the data of spot sampling carried out by survey geologists and the party of P.V. Prokuronova, no gold was found over 22 kilometers. The Belaya River and its tributaries in this area erode the rocks of the Mamkhurtsevo, Adzhar and Chessu formations of metamorphic complexes, the Belorechensk granodiorites and the tectonic wedge of Jurassic rocks, above which is the placer of the Berezovaya River, which erodes this wedge, granodiorites and metamorphites of the Chessu River. At the headwaters of the Belaya River is located

Verkhnebelorechenskoe ore field with numerous low-sulfide-quartz and sulfide-quartz veins and mineralization zones. The mystery of the inexplicable absolute, apparently apparent sterility of the extended interval of the Belaya River valley can only be solved by using deeper sampling (using pits or drilling). Below the mouth of the Berezovaya River, for 8 km in the alluvium of the Belaya River, spot samples without gold alternate with samples containing signs or 10 mg/m3 of metal. Further, over a distance of 10 km up to the mouth of the Teplyaka River, extremely high concentrations of the metal were established: 635, 315, 8750, 1250 mg/m3. Gold, according to data from miners and assessment by P.V. Prokuronova, large and medium size. I.G. Bondarenko (1975) believes that such gold does not move by water flow, and the placer in which it is concentrated is a projection of the bedrock source. P.V. Prokuronov disputes this judgment of the Kolyma researcher, believing that significant slopes and speeds of water flows in the Caucasus led to the movement of large gold.

In this area, the rocks of the Atamazhinsky horst and its framing - the Kishinsky and Teplyaksky grabens, composed mainly of terrigenous deposits of the Chuba and volcanic-terrigenous deposits of the Laura Jurassic formation, metamorphites of the Kishinsky strata and igneous rocks, were subjected to erosion. The latter are represented by a swarm of diabase dikes and sills cutting both ancient and Jurassic rocks. On the sides of the left and right tributaries of the Belaya River (Teplyak River, Fedorov Balka and others without a name) numerous sulfide-quartz veins and zones of silicification with galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite were noted. Gold was not noted in any sample, but was present in significant quantities in the alluvium of these watercourses. It seems that the source of gold in this interval is still low-sulfide-quartz and sulfide-quartz veins and crushing zones mineralized by quartz and sulfides, localized in the Jurassic underlying rocks of the Kishinsky formation of the Early Paleozoic and diabases.

Placer of the Berezovaya River, as stated above,

located above a narrow wedge of Jurassic rocks in the zone of its tectonic contacts with granodiorites

Belorechensky complex. Sources of metal can be quartz veins and mineralized zones,

localized both in granitoids and underlying Jurassic rocks. Gold in the Berezovskaya placer is large and medium with high mercury content and

minor impurities of other metals. Mercury concentrations in gold indicate that the upper horizons of low-sulfide-quartz mineralization are being exposed. The shape of goldstones is usually spongy, lump-like, vein-like, often irregular, less often amoeboid, tabular and lamellar. The color is golden yellow with a greenish tint.

Placers of the river Belaya in the area of the Front Range. Gold content can be traced throughout the entire interval, right up to the northern boundaries of the zone. There is especially a lot of gold in the south, near the Pshekish-Tyrnyauz fault. The metal content in the Molchepa river valley reaches 1067 mg/m3. It should be noted, however, that this river erodes the rocks of the Atamazhinsky and other blocks belonging to the Main Range zone. Below Molchepa, the contents in the riverbed sediments decrease (10-125 mg/m3) and increase again twice: after the intersection of the Pshekish-Bambaksky horst with its gold-bearing Permian conglomerates and after the intersection of the Dakhovsky horst and the ore field of the same name. The average gold content within the Front Range is 127 mg/m3.

Gold-bearing boulder-pebble deposits (40-60% boulders and 10-15% sand-gravel mixture) with a slight admixture of clay material. When crossing horsts, the boulder content increases, as does the size of the boulders, the maximum being 2-3 m in diameter. The entire section of channel alluvium is metal-bearing; there are no “peat”, except for the proluvial outflows of small tributaries. There are “suspended” layers on poorer clayey ones. The thickness of the “sands” varies from 2-3 to 5 m, but there are areas where the channel is cut into bedrock and the “sands” are completely absent. In channel placers lying on bedrock, increased concentrations of gold tend to be near the raft parts of the alluvium, to cracks and “pockets” of the raft, especially if the rocks are easily destroyed. The depth of the raft is usually no more than 0.3-0.5 m.

On the Belaya River, channel, brush, spit, and terrace (low-level) placers were mined; valley placers and alluvium of high terraces remained untouched.

The sources of metal in this interval, in addition to gold transported from the Main Range zone, are gold-quartz low-sulfide and sulfide-quartz veins and mineralized crushing zones of the Khamyshinsky and Dakhovsky ore fields, many smaller dispersed objects of this type and gold-bearing conglomerates of the Bolshaya Labinsky Formation of the Permian. By the way, according to spot sampling data, the gold content sharply decreased from 1250 to 4655 mg/m3 below the mouth of Teplyak and gives a surge of up to 1300 mg/m3 below the outcrops of Permian gold-bearing strata, then decreases to 5-12 mg/m3 below the mouth of the Kishi and Shakhansky fault, in the distribution zone of non-mineralized Jurassic sediments with a slight increase (115165 mg/m3) in the middle of the strip, after which they sharply drop to 5 mg/m3 throughout the entire continuation of the Granite Canyon, at the exit from which, from the marginal part of the Dakhovsky horst and almost to the mouth of Rufabgo, industrial contents from 146 to 650 mg are recorded /m3 with isolated decreases to 10-35 mg/m3. The color of gold is golden yellow with a greenish tint for poorly rounded golds and a darker reddish for well-rounded ones, but inside they are

greenish. Unrounded gold predominates. Inclusions in gold are usually quartz. There is especially a lot of quartz along the Belaya and Molchepe rivers, near the Pshekish-Tyrnyauz suture zone. Sometimes crusts of small crystals of marcasite are observed on gold.

The placers of small valleys, tributaries of the Belaya River, in this interval were mined by prospectors in the 20-40s and continue to be of interest to local metal miners to this day. In small valleys, the objects of extraction are channel, spit, small valley and brush placers at full thickness: from fractions to a few meters. Brush placers are most favorable in areas where thin-plated or thin-clad mudstones and siltstones of the black-colored Jurassic and red-colored Permian formations emerge. In addition to the channel and valley,

gold-bearing alluvium is the alluvium of different heights (from 0.6 to 18 m) of terraces of small watercourses, of which only the lowest levels (no higher than 4 m) were developed. The thickness of the alluvium of terrace placers varies from 0.2 to 1.5 m, the area dimensions are tens and hundreds of square meters.

The placers of the left tributaries of the Belaya River were developed: the Khamyshin, Bzykha and Lipovaya rivers. The gold in them is large, and there are nuggets. The largest of them, weighing 127 g, according to the prospector who found it, contained the remains of the host rock - red sandstone (Lazarev et al., 1961). Differences in fineness (660-670, 840850 and 900) give grounds for the assumption of three sources of metal supply. Two of them are known: the gold of the Khamyshin ore field and the gold of the Permian conglomerates, although the latter may contain different types of metal.

In large high-fine gold river. Khamyshinsky contains arsenic, copper, and lead in small quantities; in the low-grade fine copper gold of the Bzykha River, a high (up to 1%) concentration of mercury was found - an argument in favor of a shallow cut of the gold veins of the Khamyshinsky ore field.

The gold content in the selected placers, as a rule, remained unknown. Spot sampling in the Khamyshinka valleys, Bugaev, Glubokaya, Izvestkovaya, Stankevich gully, carried out in the 70s, showed a predominance of contents up to 10 mg/m3 with rare concentrations up to 100 and 1000 mg/m3 (Molchanov et al., 1976). Washing of channel, terrace and samples from the brushes of the Glubokaya and Izvestkovaya ravines, carried out in the 90s, established an average content in placers of 360 mg/m3, with variations from 63 to 425 mg/m3.

The predicted resources of placers in the small valleys of the Khamyshinsky area are estimated according to the categories Рі+2+з at 76 kilograms (Borisenko et al., 1995).

The large right tributary of the Belaya River is the Kisha River, which, like the Belaya River, originates in the glaciers of the Main Range zone and obliquely crosses the Pshekish-Bambaksky horst, which belongs to the Front Range zone. According to miners, the metal content in the brushes of the lower reaches of the river reached 20 g/m3. V.P. Gritskevich (1962) points to the selection of 4 concentrate samples with contents of more than 100 mg/m3 and one with 8870 mg/m3 in the riverbed. According to local residents, predatory secret gold mining was carried out previously and continues to this day on the Kish, Khamyshinka and other rivers.

According to TsNIGRI calculations, in the Khamyshinsky area, the forecast gold resources for categories P1+2+3 of small valleys are 76 kg, terrace placers - 250 kg (both for open-pit mining), the forecast resources of valley placers for dredging mining are estimated at 450 kg of metal.

Placers of the Belaya River within the Labino-Malkinsky zone. The placer polygon of the Belaya River in the interval between two canyons: Granite and Khadzhokh Gorge is the northwestern closure of the metallogenic zone of the North Jurassic Depression, limited from the north by the scarps of the Rocky Range, and from the south by the high-mountain ridges of the Front Range. This zone includes the Malka-Chegemsky and Urupo-Labinsky gold placer areas, as well as the Baksan, Kuban, Teberda, B. Zelenchuk and Belaya placers.

P.V. Prokuronov considered these placers to be allochthonous, without a local source of gold, that the metal was supplied by the zones of the Main and Forward Ranges, and the transport means were valley glaciers and fast mountain streams, especially powerful during periods of floods.

There is no alluvium or gold in the mentioned canyons. Both are concentrated in the Dakhovsky expansion between the exit from the Granite Canyon and the breakthrough of the Jurassic cuesta.

Channel and terrace placers are known and developed here. On the left terrace of the Belaya River, 1618 m high, between the mouth of the Rufabgo River and the river’s entrance to the Khadzhokh Gorge, alluvium up to 5-7 m thick was mined using the butar method using water flow from the stream. The gold content in alluvium ranged from 100 to 1000 mg/m3. There are traces of artisanal mining on the right terraces of the Belaya River.

According to P.V. Prokuronova (1969), when examining terrace placer gold deposits in the Dakhovsky and Khadzhokhsky areas, the following was noted. On terraces at a 3-4 meter level the content is set to 50-80 mg/m3, on terraces at a 6-8 meter level - up to 100-352 mg/m3 for a thickness of 0.5 m, on a 16-18 meter terrace - up to 100-1000 mg/m3 m3, on the relics of a 230-meter-high right-bank terrace, near Dakhovskaya station, 36 mg/m3 of metal was installed.

The results of mining the riverbed placer of the Belaya River are not known. The valley placer was not explored or opened.

Information on the gold content of small watercourses of the North Jurassic metallogenic zone at its western end (within Adygea) is extremely limited. The Doguako River, which originates within the mineralized Dakhovsky ore field, was assessed. Over 2000 m, the average gold content was 253 mg/m3 for a sand thickness of 30 cm. There are two types of gold in alluvium: large well-rounded high-fineness (up to 960 ppm) and small, poorly rounded gold with a fineness of 760-880 ppm - probably have different sources.

The valley of the Sahraya River and its tributaries, which drains fields of gold-bearing mineralization of the low-sulfide-quartz type and carries a schlich gold-scheelite flow, is considered to be presumably gold-bearing.

The spot flow of gold and silver was noted along the Bachurin ravine, the left tributary of the Rufabgo River, in the place where it erodes the essentially gold- and silver-bearing rocks of the Mezmay formation of the Upper Jurassic.

The predicted resources of the Dakhovsky gold placer site, according to calculations by TsNIGRI, are estimated in categories P1+2+3 at 300 kg of metal, including placers of small valleys - 10 kg, terrace placers - 20 kg and valley placers of the Belaya River for dredging - 270 kg. The resources of small valleys and terrace placers are clearly underestimated.

The placers of the Belaya and Laba rivers in the zone of the Foredeeps are weakly gold-bearing trains carried from the Labino-Malkin zone beyond the Skalisty Range.

At the very beginning of the Khadzhokh expansion, the gold content was established at 310 mg/m3. A significant terrace placer is expected to be located in the so-called Khadzhokh clearing, where traces of artisanal mining have been identified. Its estimated parameters: length 1 km, width - 50 meters, thickness of sands 2 meters, average content in sands 0.5 g/m3 - allow us to count on gold reserves of 100 kg.

Below the Khadzhokh expansion, gold in alluvium can be traced to the city of Maikop. Development was carried out right up to the village of Tulskoye, especially at the mouth of the Maykopka gully, in the Podvesny section.

According to flume sampling data (Prokuronov et al., 1969), the gold content in channel samples does not exceed 100-120 mg/m3, usually from 5 to 50 mg/m3. The channel alluvium of the Belaya and Laba rivers has a low bouldery content (15-5%) with a content sand-gravel mixture 20-70%. The thickness of the alluvium of the Belaya River, cut into the rocks of the Adygean ledge, does not exceed 10-15 m, and its gold content is more stable compared to the Laba River, where the thickness of the alluvium is measured in tens of meters and the gold content does not exceed 20 mg/m3.

Along with dispersed gold, gold particles 0.5-1 mm in size are quite common in the Belaya River. Its roundness is average, poorly rounded grains are noted. The shape of gold grains is most often lamellar, the color is golden-yellow, greenish tints were not observed. In the alluvium of the Laba River, gold is predominantly dispersed (0.25 mm or less) and is classified as fine and fine.

The valley placers of the rivers have not been explored; at some incomplete intersections, the depth of their occurrence on the Belaya river is 6-8 m, on the river. Labe - 20-30m.

In the Laba River valley, experimental work was carried out to determine the possible associated extraction of gold by mining sand and gravel mixtures. The work was carried out at three quarries on the right bank of the Laba, near the border of Adygea: Zassovsky, Vladimirsky and Tsentr-Labinsky, and at Koshekhablsky, within Adygea. The results of the work are as follows: at Zassovsky - with a content of 14 mg/m3, gold resources amounted to 362 kg, fineness 905 ppm; at Vladimirsky - with a content of 22 mg/m3, resources - 168 kg; at Tsentr-Labinsky - with a content of 13 mg/m3, resources amounted to 70 kg, fineness 930 ppm. Information on the Koshekhablsky quarry (Vaganov and

al., 2000) is as follows: the gold content in the sand fraction of ASG was 35 mg/m3, in some processed products - 69-226 mg/m3; 35% of gold is represented by particles less than 0.25 mm, fineness is 940-950 ppm, and platinum is also found in small quantities. Resources have not been calculated.

With a million-dollar annual productivity of the quarry, associated gold extraction can range from 10 to 20 kg, which will provide additional income (at 2003 prices equal to 11.5 dollars per gram) of 115-230 thousand dollars.

A quarry on the terraced placer of Khadzhokhskaya Polyana could produce the same profits with a productivity 50 times less.

were estimated, but presumably they are significantly higher than on the Laba River, due to more favorable conditions associated with ongoing deep erosion in the zone of the Adygea uplift.

Since the upper reaches of the Belaya River, above the village of Guzeriplya, the Malchepa, Kishi and Fedorov Balka rivers are located within the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve, you can realistically count on carrying out additional surveys and organizing gold mining, including its associated extraction during the development of building materials, only in the riverbed and the valley of the Belaya River and along its left-bank tributaries below the mouth of the Kisha River and further along the entire river valley, right up to its sandy outfalls into the Krasnodar Sea (reservoir). Along its banks, it is possible to discover newly formed placers of kos gold with an admixture of platinum, similar to those in Vilyui. The supply of metal is also provided by the Kuban River and all its main tributaries, originating in the highlands of the Greater Caucasus, including the Belaya and Laba rivers.

Notes:

1. Vaganov P.N., Borisenko A.Yu. Placer gold of the Republic of Adygea. // Geology and mineral resource base of the North Caucasus. Materials of the IX international scientific and practical conference. Essentuki, 2000, p.518-519.

2. Vaganov P.N., Borisenko A.Yu. Manifestation of prospecting criteria and signs of the gold mining process within the Belorechenskaya area of the Republic of Adygea. (Ibid.), p. 507509.

3. State geological map of the Russian Federation, scale 1:200,000. Caucasian series. Sheet K-37-U. Ed. 2nd. / V.A. Lavrishchev, N.I. Prutsky, V.M. Semenov et al. St. Petersburg, 2002.

4. Same. Sheet L-37-ХХХУ. Ed. 2nd. / S.G. Korsakov, I.N. Semenukha et al. St. Petersburg, 2004.

5. Zyabrin S.M., Kaftanatsky A.B. Low sulfide quartz

veins as one of the sources of placers in the North Caucasus. Materials of the IX international scientific-practical

conferences. Essentuki, 2000. - P.523-526.

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The old gold mining areas will retain a leading role in gold mining for a long time, and their development must be given primary attention. But the task of further developing the gold industry does not allow us to limit ourselves to already exploited areas. The currently known geological characteristics of the Azov-Black Sea and North Caucasus regions, as well as the known gold content of individual areas, provide rich material for further study of these areas. This is largely helped by archaeological finds of ancient gold items. Until 1930, neither literary nor archival materials contained information about the gold content of the territories of the Azov-Black Sea region and the North. There was no Caucasus. Only in 1930/31, a search party sent from Moscow established the gold content of the Labinsky region. The commercial gold content was first established by the exploration party of Sevkavpolymetal. At the end of 1932, an independent Labinsk Exploration Directorate was organized, the main task of which was to further cover the region with prospecting exploration, detail the discovered gold-bearing areas and accompanying gold production by attracting prospectors to this work. Already in 1933, prospecting work was organized in Kuban, Teberda, Rozhkoa, and almost exclusively the local population was involved, thanks to which gold mining was concentrated mainly near populated areas.

Noble metals

Silver- sparkling white metal. Hardness 2.5; density 10-11. Clark silver in the earth's crust is 0.00001%.

The main minerals of silver are: native silver Ag (up to 100%); electrum Au, Ag (Ag 15-50%); argentite Ag 2 S (Ag 87.1%); proustite Ag 3 AsS 3 (Ag 65.5%); pyrargyrite Ag 3 SbS 3 (Ag 60%); kerargyrite AgCl (Ag 75.2%). Silver-containing fahlores, galena, enargite, chalcopyrite and some other sulfides are of great importance for the extraction of silver. Wire formations of silver are known in nature, less often it occurs in the form of crystals, various shapes intergrowths, sometimes in the form of fine and coarse plastic formations, small phenocrysts.

A large amount of silver is mined from polymetallic ores. Sometimes it is associated with galena. In some cases, it is obtained from the extraction of copper ores.

Since ancient times, silver has been used by humans as a precious metal in jewelry and for minting coins. In alloys with copper, it is used to make silver products; It is used in film and photography to produce silver bromide.

The Mekhmaninsky deposit of polymetallic ores containing silver has been explored in Azerbaijan. In the Armenian SSR, gold deposits are Meghradzor in the Hrazdan region and Lichkvaz in the Meghri region - the main components here are gold and silver. An increased silver content was established at the Shaumyanovskoe lead-zinc deposit (Kafan, Armenia). At the Akhatlinskoye deposit, silver was noted in polymetallic ores. Silver has also been found in the Zod gold deposit. In the North Caucasus, silver was discovered in polymetallic ores mined in North Ossetia.

Silver occurrences also occur in other areas of the Caucasus.

Gold Since ancient times, it has been used by humans for decoration, and later for minting coins. In the earth's crust it is very dispersed, and its clarke is 5 * 10 -7%. The color of gold is bright to light yellow. The shine is strong, metallic. Hardness 2.5. Density 15.5-19.3. It has malleability. Chemically inactive.

There are two main types of gold deposits: 1) ore gold - primary deposits; 2) placer gold - secondary deposits.

Native gold containing impurities of silver, copper, sometimes bismuth, palladium, rhodium, etc. is of great industrial importance. Ore with a gold content of 1-2 g per 1 ton of ore is considered industrial; there are deposits with a gold content in ore of 4-5 g/t and higher.

Gold is widely used in production jewelry. In alloys with platinum it is used for the manufacture of various chemical equipment, and in alloys with platinum, silver and other metals it is used in electrical engineering. Gold is part of chemical preparations for photography and is used in medicine.

Archaeological finds indicate that gold was mined in the Caucasus in distant historical times.

Gold deposits have been established in Upper Svaneti and in some other places. In Armenia, gold is contained as an admixture to the main ore in deposits of copper, copper pyrite (Kafan, Shamlugh, Alaverdi, etc.), sulfur pyrite (Tandzut), and polymetals (Gamza, Akhtala). Gold occurrences have been identified in the Lichkvazteisky district, and the Zod gold deposit has been discovered.

In Azerbaijan, gold has been discovered in many places. In Georgia, alluvial gold-bearing sands are known in the basins of the Enguri*, Dambludka, Khrami, Pinazauri, Tskhenis-Tskali and Saramula rivers.

* (During the construction of the Inguri hydroelectric power station, during the process of reclamation of the dam, gold was caught by dredging along the way.)

In the North Caucasus, the gold content of alluvial deposits in the valleys of the rivers Urup, Vlasnichikha, Bizhgon, Kyafar, Zelenchuk, Teberda, Kuban, Malka, Baksan, Musht, Chegem, Urukh and Fiag-Don has been established. Gold has long been mined in small quantities in the upper reaches of the Laba.

Platinum(Spanish “platinum” - silver) and metals belonging to its group are very dispersed in the earth’s crust, and their clarke amounts to one hundred millionths of a percent. The color of platinum is silver-white to black-steel. Metallic shine. Hardness. 4. Density 14-19. It has malleability. Melting point 1774°C. The fracture is hooked. Platinum is a chemically resistant, refractory and electrically conductive metal.

In nature, Fe-containing varieties of native platinum are most often found. Of the platinum group minerals in the earth's crust, the most common polyxene is Pt, Fe (80-88% Pt and 5-11% Fe). Ore containing 1-2 g of platinum per 1 ton of ore is considered industrial.

Platinum and its group of metals - palladium, osmium, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium - are used in the chemical and electrical industries, and as precious metals in jewelry. Thanks to its corrosion resistance, resistance to high temperatures and other properties, platinum is widely used in various fields of technology.

In the Caucasus and primarily in the territory of the Armenian SSR, there are geological prerequisites for identifying platinum deposits (E. Kh. Gulyan). Platinum is also found in the ores of the Zod gold deposit. This metal is found in the ores of many other deposits of the Caucasus; its associated extraction is of interest.