Mineral resources of Belarus, their condition and use

What minerals of Belarus are characterized by significant reserves? What is hidden in the depths of this Eastern European country? Is the mineral resources of the republic rationally mastered and used? We'll try to answer all these questions in this article.

Republic of Belarus: common features of the nature of the country

The physical geography of Belarus differs in several features. It:

• Flatness of the territory;
• The predominance of poor sod-podzolic and sod-bog soils;
• Temperate continental climate with frequent winter thaws;
• Significant land swamping (about 30%);
• A large number of freshwater lakes (there are at least 10 thousand of them).

About a third of the country is covered with forests consisting mainly of oak, birch, aspen, spruce or pine. Numerous lakes and swamps of Belarus have been chosen by various species of birds. In the state there is a reserve Belovezhskaya Pushcha, which is known far beyond the borders of the country. It is here that a large bison population is protected, as well as the last relic forest in Europe.

Mineral resources of Belarus: reserves and level of development

In the Republic of Belarus there are about 4 thousand deposits of various mineral raw materials. The whole world is famous for its huge reserves of potassium salt. By the volume of its industrial deposits, it occupies a leading place in Europe.

Other minerals in Belarus are rock salt, peat, and raw materials for the construction industry (granites, dolomites, chalk, limestone and others). There are also small oil deposits in the country . Their development began in the 1960s. However, today the country covers its domestic needs for black gold only by 12-15%.

In the bowels of Belarus there is also conventional, traditional gold, as well as diamonds (under the assumptions of some geological experts). However, their development and extraction in any case will be unprofitable due to too deep a bed of this resource.

Mineral-chemical raw materials: phosphorites, potassium and rock salts

Within the Mogilev region of the republic, deposits of phosphorites have been explored. Here, according to geologists, there are approximately 60 million tons of this raw material. In Belarus phosphorites are presented in the form of thin plates or are dispersed in several layers of sand.

In the bowels of the country found and potassium salts. The deposits of this mineral resource are concentrated in the southern part of Belarus (Starobin, Octyabrsk, Petrikov). Their industrial resources are estimated by geologists at 10 billion tons, and the total (forecast) - nearly 80 billion tons.

Almost unlimited reserves of rock salt have been found in Belarus. They are in the Pripyat depression, on an area of 25,000 square kilometers. The Upper Devonian deposits of rock salt formed into two layers. The resource is still being extracted only in two places - at the Mozyr and Starobinskoye fields. Their industrial reserves are about 22 billion tons of raw materials.

Mineral raw materials for the construction industry

Minerals used in construction include loam and clay, sand, gravel, pebble, chalk, marl, limestone, granite, dolomite, labradorite, marble, kaolin and other rocks. The territory of Belarus is extremely rich in these minerals.

Light-melting clays are widespread throughout the country. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, they were mined even within the boundaries of Minsk. Clays of the highest quality lie within the Vitebsk region. The total reserves of low-melting clays in Belarus are estimated at almost 1.5 billion tons. Approximately the same amount of gravel and pebble materials in the country. Refractory and refractory clays lie within the Loev and Stolin districts.

In Belarus, silicate and construction sands are also actively mined. Their total predicted reserves are estimated at two billion cubic meters of raw materials. Construction sands are now mined in 20 fields. The largest of them is near the village of Lebejani in the Baranovichi District.

In the Belarusian mineral resources there is also raw materials for the cement industry - marl, chalk, and moraine clays. In particular, the largest deposit of cement raw materials in Europe - Kommunarskoye - was discovered in Kostyukovichi region. On its basis there are three plants. But near the city of Vitebsk there is a large deposit of dolomite.

In Belarus, mineral pigments (dyes) are also extracted from the earth's interior, which are widely used in various branches of the economy. It is white chalk, ocher, siderite and glauconite.

Ore Minerals

At least two deposits of iron ore are known in Belarus . They are located in Korelichi and Stolbtsy district. The iron content in local quartzites is small and amounts to 30%. The extraction of ore is also hampered by the rather deep occurrence of its layers.

In the southern part of the country, geologists believe, there may be deposits of some non-ferrous metals, in particular, native copper and chalcopyrite. In the Lelchitsy region, the concentration of uranium in the sediments is quite high and reaches industrial indices (that is, the organization of its production here can be profitable). In general, geologists continue to explore the south of the country, where the rocks of the crystal shield come to the surface. In their opinion, in the near future it will be possible to open new deposits of various metal minerals there.

Fuel minerals: oil, gas, peat

The first oil well of Belarus was drilled in the early 50s of the last century. However, the oil extracted from it was not of the highest quality. Black gold on an industrial scale began to be extracted here only in the mid-1960s. The center of Belarusian oil production was the city of Rechitsa in the Gomel region. The oil here was of a higher quality. Another large oil deposit (Ostashkovichskoye) was discovered twenty kilometers from Rechitsa.

In all, about five dozen oil fields have been explored in Belarus so far. The total reserves of black gold in them are almost 90 million tons. Annually the country extracts about two million of this raw material from its bowels.

Belarusian oil also contains a certain amount of associated gas. However, its production covers only one percent of the country's total needs in this resource. Associated gas is used to produce electricity at one of the TPPs, and also goes to the heating of residential houses in the settlements of the Gomel region.

In the bowels of the republic there are colossal deposits of another fuel resource - peat. Their total reserves are about 30 billion cubic meters of raw materials. To date, peat is produced in 42 deposits in Belarus. Most of them are in the Polesie region.

Some perspective minerals of the country

What other minerals are promising to mine in Belarus? There are several such:

• brown coal;
• Oil shale;
• gypsum.

On the territory of the country, several oil shale deposits have been explored , which lie at a depth of up to 600 meters. Their total reserves are estimated at eleven billion tons. Belarusian minerals and brown coal are rich. Large deposits of this fuel resource were identified in the west of the Pripyat Trough. In the same region, significant deposits of gypsum are concentrated. The total reserves of this building material are estimated by experts at 400 million tons.

The territory of Belarus, due to the peculiarities of the geological structure, is also rich in underground mineral waters. Numerous sources of sulfate, hydrocarbonate, magnesium and other waters have been identified within the country.

Modern problems and peculiarities of using mineral resources of Belarus

At the end of 2015, the President of the Republic, Alexander Lukashenko, held a meeting, in which, in particular, the state and modern use of the country's mineral and raw materials base was discussed. The head of state stressed that Belarus should minimize its dependence on foreign mineral raw materials. To do this, it is necessary to establish production of already explored deposits, as well as actively engage in the search for new ones.

Belarus spends about $ 11 billion annually on the purchase of hydrocarbons from abroad. At the same time, the country also imports those minerals that are kept in large quantities in the bowels of the republic. We are talking about gravel, gravel, gypsum. The same situation with another important resource: thus, having at its disposal the richest reserves of quality mineral waters, the country buys drinking water from France, Italy and other states.

Belarus has already developed a special program for the development and rational use of local mineral resources, which should improve the situation for the better.

Finally...

About 4,000 different deposits have already been discovered within the country. The most famous mineral resources of Belarus, which are actively developed today, are potash salt, oil and gas, peat, rock salt, dolomites, building sand, clays and marls.