What minerals of Belarus have significant reserves? What is hidden in the bowels of this Eastern European country? How rationally are the mineral resources of the republic mastered and used? We will try to answer all these questions in this article.
Republic of Belarus: general features of the country's nature
The physical geography of Belarus is distinguished by several features. It:
- plain territory;
- the prevalence of poor sod-podzolic and sod-bog soils;
- temperate continental climate with frequent winter thaws;
- significant swampiness of land (about 30%);
- a large number of fresh lakes (all of them - at least 10 thousand).
About a third of the country is covered by forests, consisting mainly of oak, birch, aspen, spruce or pine. Numerous lakes and swamps of Belarus have chosen 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 relict forest site in Europe.
Minerals of Belarus: reserves and level of development
In the Republic of Belarus there are about 4 thousand deposits of various mineral raw materials. For the whole world, the country is famous for its huge reserves of potassium salt. In terms of its industrial deposits, it occupies a leading position in Europe.
Other minerals of Belarus are rock salt, peat, as well as raw materials for the construction industry (granites, dolomites, chalk, limestone and others). There are also minor oil deposits in the country . Their development began in the 1960s. However, to date, the country covers only 12-15% of its domestic needs in black gold.
In the bowels of Belarus there is also ordinary, traditional gold, as well as diamonds (as suggested by some expert geologists). However, their development and production in any case will be unprofitable due to too deep occurrence of this resource.
Mining and chemical raw materials: phosphorites, potassium and rock salts
Within the Mogilev region of the republic, phosphorite deposits 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 dispersed in several layers of sand.
Potassium salts were also found in the bowels of the country. The deposits of this mineral resource are concentrated in the southern part of Belarus (Starobinsky, Oktyabrsky, Petrikovsky). Their industrial resources are estimated by geologists at 10 billion tons, and the total (predicted) - almost 80 billion tons.
In Belarus, almost unlimited reserves of rock salt have been discovered. They are located in the Pripyat Depression, on an area of 25,000 square kilometers. Upper Devonian rock salt deposits formed in two layers. Resource extraction so far is conducted only in two places - at the Mozyr and Starobinsky deposits. Their industrial reserves amount to about 22 billion tons of raw materials.
Mineral raw materials for the construction industry
The minerals used in construction include loams and clays, sands, gravel, pebbles, chalk, marl, limestone, granites, dolomites, labradorites, marble, kaolin and other rocks. The territory of Belarus is extremely rich in these minerals.
Fusible clays are distributed practically throughout the country. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, they were mined even within the boundaries of Minsk. Clays of the highest quality occur within the Vitebsk region. The total reserves of fusible clays in Belarus are estimated at almost one and a half billion tons. About the same volume and gravel and pebble materials in the country. Refractory and refractory clays occur within the Loevsky and Stolin districts.
Silicate and building sands are also actively mined in Belarus. Their total forecast reserves are estimated at two billion cubic meters of raw materials. Construction sand is mined today at 20 deposits. The largest of them is located near the village of Lebezhany, Baranavichy district.
Raw materials for the cement industry — marl, chalk, and moraine clay — also lie in the Belarusian bowels. In particular, in the Kostyukovichsky district, the largest deposit of cement raw materials in Europe, Kommunarskoye, has been explored. Three plants operate at its base. But near the city of Vitebsk there is a large dolomite deposit.
In Belarus, mineral pigments (dyes), which are widely used in various sectors of the economy, are also extracted from the bowels of the earth. These are white chalk, ocher, siderite and green earth.
Ore Minerals
In Belarus, at least two iron ore deposits are known . They are located in Korelichi and Stolbtsovsky district. The iron content in local quartzites is small and amounts to 30%. Ore mining is also hampered by a rather deep occurrence of its layers.
In the southern part of the country, according to geologists, there may be deposits of some non-ferrous metals, in particular, native copper and chalcopyrite. In Lelchitsky district, the concentration of uranium in the sediments is quite high and reaches industrial indicators (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 crystalline shield come to the surface. According to them, in the near future it will be possible to discover new deposits of various metal minerals there.
Fuel minerals: oil, gas, peat
The first oil well in Belarus was drilled in the early 50s of the last century. However, the oil extracted from it was not of the highest quality. They began to mine black gold on an industrial scale only in the mid-1960s. The center of Belarusian oil production was the city of Rechitsa in the Gomel region. The local oil was already of higher quality. Another major oil field (Ostashkovichskoye) was discovered twenty kilometers from Rechitsa.
In total, about five dozen oil fields have been explored in Belarus today. The total reserves of black gold in them are almost 90 million tons. Every year, the country extracts from its bowels about two million of these raw materials.
Belarusian oil also contains some associated gas. However, its production covers only one percent of the country's total needs for this resource. Associated gas is used to generate electricity at one of the thermal power plants, and also goes to heat residential buildings in the settlements of the Gomel region.
In the bowels of the republic are colossal deposits of another fuel resource - peat. Their total reserves are about 30 billion cubic meters of raw materials. To date, peat in Belarus is extracted at 42 fields. Most of them are located in the Polessky region.
Some promising minerals of the country
What other minerals are promising to be mined in Belarus? There are several such ones:
- brown coal;
- oil shale;
- gypsum.
Several oil shale deposits have been explored in the country , which occur at a depth of up to 600 meters. Their total reserves are estimated at eleven billion tons. The Belarusian bowels are also rich in brown coal. Large deposits of this fuel resource have been identified in the west of the Pripyat trough. Significant gypsum deposits are concentrated in the same region. The total reserves of this building material are estimated by experts at 400 million tons.
The territory of Belarus, thanks to the peculiarities of the geological structure, is also rich in underground mineral waters. Numerous sources of sulfate, bicarbonate, magnesium and other waters have been identified within the country.
Current problems and features of the use of mineral resources of Belarus
At the end of 2015, President of the Republic Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting at which, in particular, the state and current use of the country's mineral and raw material base were discussed. The head of state emphasized 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 seek new ones.
Belarus spends annually about 11 billion dollars for the purchase of hydrocarbons from abroad. At the same time, the country imports those minerals that are contained in large quantities in the bowels of the republic. We are talking about gravel, gravel, gypsum. The same situation is with one more important resource: thus, having at its disposal the richest reserves of high-quality mineral waters, the country buys drinking water from France, Italy and other countries.
Belarus has already developed a special program for the development and rational use of local mineral resources, which should correct the situation for the better.
Finally...
About 4 thousand different deposits have already been explored within the country. The most famous minerals of Belarus, which are being actively developed today, are potassium salt, oil and gas, peat, rock salt, dolomites, building sand, clays and marls.