Where can you find diamonds in Ukraine?

Before the Kirovograd discovery, geologists discovered tens of thousands of crystals in Ukraine. Including – near Kyiv. On the eve of the New Year holidays, the country was filled with happiness. A geological sample taken 20-30 kilometers from Kirovograd turned out to contain a diamond crystal measuring 1,5 mm. And with it – the rock that accompanies diamond deposits. No worse than Yakutia, but. But the region need not be afraid of an invasion by prospectors: you cannot dig to a depth of 84,5 meters without an industrial quarry. Even the very place where a “gravitational anomaly with a diameter of 1200 meters” is hidden under the forest-steppe landscape cannot be determined by eye. “It was decided to allocate 2006 million hryvnia for research in 2, and another 5-6 million in the future,” he told Gazeta. » Head of the State Geological Service Anton Dzidzinsky. – In 2-3 years it is possible to complete the assessment of the field; it is too early to give other forecasts. » We asked specialists from the Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Ore Formation of the National Academy of Sciences if we had diamond finds before. “Tens of thousands of crystals, in many areas! – came the unexpected answer. – Gold, silver and platinum are not a sensation for Ukraine either. “No wonder – the Ukrainian crystalline shield stretches across the entire country, the same as under South Africa and Yakutia. In such areas, where the oldest rocks are almost not covered by later sediments, you can get to the most valuable minerals. Loose diamonds are a nuisance “Jewelry diamonds are found in kimberlite pipes and placers,” he told Gazeta. » Viktor Kvasnitsa, head of the Institute’s diamond potential problems department. – The tube – a “glass” from tens to hundreds of meters in diameter – is located where a magmatic melt was squeezed out through a crack in the earth’s crust. Deeper down it turns into a dike – a kimberlite “thread” many meters thick. If the tube is destroyed – for example, by erosion – the diamonds end up in the placer along with their constant companion, the mineral pyrope. But having discovered a diamond or pyrope crystal in river sand, it is extremely difficult to determine where its primary deposit is.” Ukrainian geologists have found tens of thousands of tiny crystals that are not suitable for the jewelry industry, but their origin has not been clarified. It is necessary to analyze the age and composition of these dust particles in order to understand where they “lived” together with their larger brothers. And if now the Kirovgeology expedition has stumbled upon just such a source, then the find is truly unique, even from a scientific point of view. There is one near Kyiv too! “In the world, for every 100 kimberlite pipes, there is only one that is worth mining for jewelry diamonds,” says Viktor Kvasnitsa. “There are already about 10 kimberlite and lamproite occurrences in Ukraine; another 90 remain to be found.” According to Kvasnitsa, the first reliable data is about the discovery of a diamond in Ukraine, made in 1949. A crystal weighing 1,2 mg was found by geologists of the East Ukrainian expedition in the sand of the Bazavluk River, the right tributary of the Dnieper (now the Kakhovka Sea splashes there). An active search began throughout the country. They checked everything – from legends to scientific hypotheses, explored the beds of all major rivers, the coast of the Azov and Black Seas. By the end of the 60s, many crystals were discovered in placers almost throughout the entire shield. They also found tiny diamonds that were formed when meteorites hit the Earth. In the early 80s, the diamond potential of some sedimentary rocks of Volyn was proven. Kyiv is also lucky, its location is very interesting: the city center is located on the Ukrainian Shield itself, but part of the Left Bank is already on its slope. In 1977, specialists from the Institute found a diamond measuring 0,35 mm in river sand near the village of Lyutizh. This is not the only find in the Kiev region. A goldfish needs a gold fishing rod However, the USSR preferred to invest in more promising fields in Yakutia. During the years of Soviet power, 30 million rubles were spent on the “diamond problem” in Ukraine. This is very little: Australia in the 70s spent $300 million in 5 years on the discovery of deposits alone. Our investments in the search for diamonds are still “Soviet”. Whether it’s worth grumbling at the government for this is a moot point. The search for indigenous diamond sources, even with ideal funding, can remain unsuccessful for a year or a decade. It’s like constantly buying tickets for a very expensive lottery. Someday the winnings will come – but will you be able to survive until then, especially if you’re starving? “Money is not the only thing the industry lacks,” reminds Victor Kvasnitsa. – Now researchers in Kyiv, Simferopol, Lvov and Donetsk are working on their own, without a coordinating center. And the search for diamonds is carried out casually, at the same time as other minerals. And this should be done by expeditions consisting of “diamond” specialists.” Save the Samotkan field! But in Ukraine there are already known diamond areas, which even without jewelry raw materials can be of economic interest. Thus, both diamonds and gold are found in the Belokorovichi structure. Near the village of Belilovka in the Zhitomir region, tiny impact diamonds were found that can be used for technical purposes. The Samotkan placers are attractive for their purple diamonds. If it is possible to find their bedrock, then several dozen one- or two-carat rocks will cover all the costs of research. But even those tiny crystals, which are now found there in the thousands, can be used in the field of high technology: these are semiconductors, a material with excellent thermal conductivity. They await their use in future technology, from lasers to medical probes. And, perhaps, they won’t wait: during the extraction of titanium and zirconium in Samotkan, rough diamonds are simply destroyed. My silver mines, my gold placers. If they tell you that Ukraine is a poor country, take a map of mineral resources from 2003. Within ten minutes you’ll feel like you’ve just become a millionaire. On the Black Sea coast, including near Odessa, you will see gold. It is also east of Donetsk, between Zaporozhye and Krivoy Rog, near Cherkassy, ​​on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov. The golden chain stretches from the west to Kirovograd. There are at least five deposits in the Carpathian region. Only two of them are being developed in Ukraine: Muzhievskoe and Saulyakskoe. Meanwhile, we have thousands of tons of gold, and according to experts, we can take one of the leading places in Europe in its production! Perhaps this is much more accurate than looking for diamonds: gold specks of any size can be combined into a full-weight ingot. Do you want silver? Geologists have described no less than seven deposits – not to mention “a number of occurrences that have been practically unstudied.” There are even nuggets, like in the Kvasovskoye deposit. Platinum and platinoids were also discovered: five occurrences on the Ukrainian shield, one in Transcarpathia, one over Lutsk, one over Donetsk. In Volyn there are copper deposits that will last the country for 100 years. But we import 240 thousand tons of it per year and do not extract it ourselves at all! Further enumeration of metallic wealth can be reduced to the formula “everything is in Ukraine.” Iron, manganese, uranium, chromium, titanium, vanadium, aluminum, magnesium, nickel, cobalt, lead, zinc, lithium, rubidium, cesium, beryllium, zirconium, hafnium, yttrium. The number of explored and already exploited deposits in our country is low: less than 10, although more than 300 occurrences of about 40 types of colored stones are known. Yes, even if Ukraine is not one of the leading suppliers of precious stones to the world jewelry market, Ukrainian deposits exist and are being developed. On the territory of our country, precious stones of jewelry quality (albeit in small quantities) and stones for industrial use are mined: diamonds, corundums (sapphires and rubies), beryls (emeralds), topaz, etc., as well as facing stone. Check out the list of registered trade and proper names of natural stone from deposits in Ukraine. All deposits of colored and facing stones existing in Ukraine are mainly located in four geological zones: the Ukrainian Shield, the Carpathian and Crimean Mountains, the Dnieper-Donets depression. The main and well-known deposits of precious stones are: Kapitanovskoye (ruby), Volynskoye (beryl, topaz), Bogdanovskoye (amethyst), Central Nagolchanskoye (rock crystal), Zolotukhinskoye (quartzite), Kalyusik (marble onyx), Karpovskoye (petrified wood) , Bagerovskoe (petrified wood), Volynskoe (amber), Klesovskoe (amber), Skalevaya (amber), Ekaterininskoe (opal), Kropivnitskoe (tiger eyes), Prelutskoe (rhodonite), Volosskoe (unakite), Novonikolayevskoe (unakite), Donskoe ( Mariupolite), Yanova Valley (jasper), Rokosivske (jet, obsidian). As for facing stone, for example, granite is mined in the Osokovka, Didkovichskoye and Trikratnenskoye deposits; labradorite – in the Vaskovetskoye, Fedorovskoye, Kamennobrotskoye, Kamennaya Pech and Guta-Doyurinskoye deposits; marble and marble limestone – in the Monastyrskoye, Krichivskoye, Serebristoye, Dovgorunskoye, Krivchinskoye, Negrebivskoye, Novopavlovskoye, Buzovskoye and Mramornoe deposits, gabbro – in the Yasnogorskoye, Tserkovnoye, Bronislavskoye and Fedorovskoye deposits. There are also prospects for the discovery of new deposits. Indeed, as a result of research carried out during 1985-1987, 5 promising areas and 19 promising areas were identified with the possibility of identifying new deposits within their boundaries. Diamond The vast majority of diamonds mined in Ukraine are industrial diamonds.
Ukrainian deposits, where diamonds of all genetic types are mined, are concentrated in such geological structures as the Ukrainian Shield, the Donetsk Fold and the Scythian Plate. The vast majority of them are technical. As for the prospects for searching for primary diamond deposits in Ukraine, modern researchers associate them with the territory where the following deposits have already been identified – the Ukrainian shield, namely with the central part of the Pripyat swell, the north and southwestern parts of the USh, the Kirovograd and mid-Dnieper blocks, zone is a combination of the Azov block of the USh with Donbass and the western part of the Azov block. Quartz, topaz, beryl The main geological and industrial types of deposits of quartz, topaz and beryl are zanorish pegmatites (emerald mines of the Urals, Colombia – deposits of Muse, Pivor, Coscues, Jacopi, Brazil – Carnaiba, Fazienda in Pompeii, India – Caligulian, Radrigarh, South Africa – Somerset, Cobra, Gravelot, Austria – Habakhtam, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, etc.) and, to a lesser extent, greisen (Sherlovoy Mountain in Transbaikalia). The only large Volodarsk-Volynskoe deposit in Ukraine with piezoquartz (morion and rock crystal), topaz and beryl is associated with zanorischian pegmatites. This field is located near the regional center of Volodarsk-Volynsky, Zhytomyr region. In geological and structural terms, this is the territory of the Northwestern megablock of the Ukrainian shield, a characteristic feature of which is the distribution here of rocks of the gabbro-anorthosite formation and rapakivi granites of early Proterozoic age, forming the so-called Korosten pluton, measuring 150 by 100 km. The development and development of this deposit are associated, first of all, with the extraction of piezoelectric raw materials, which have found wide use in radio engineering, electrical and sound acoustics, piezometry and in many other fields of science and technology. During the development of the Volyn deposit, topaz and beryl were only accompanying raw materials intended for the needs of jewelers and collectors. However, it was here that unique crystals of these minerals were found, thanks to which the deposit gained worldwide fame. Volodarsk-Vladimir deposit: a world-famous place for mining quartz, topaz and beryl Garnet Garnets from Ukrainian deposits have excellent abrasive properties. Garnets are characteristic minerals of metamorphic, contact-metasomatic and igneous rocks. In crystalline schists and gneisses formed as a result of regional metamorphism of clayey rocks, almandine is often found, and grossular is less common. In skarns, calcium garnets are common – grossular and andradite; uvarovite is rare, mainly at the contact with chromosomal ultramafic rocks. From garnets of igneous origin, pyrope, as the most resistant to high temperatures and pressure mineral, is found in kimberlites, peridotites, pyroxenites: spessartine and almandine – in granites and pegmatites, and the latter also in rhyolites and dacites (Transcarpathia, Far East). There are two types of garnet deposits and occurrences known in Ukraine: igneous and metamorphic. The first are associated with granites of Archean-Proterozoic age, represented by the Slobodivsky and Loznenskoye deposits, Zhigalivsky, Nikolaevsky, Guliivsky and other manifestations of the Volyn area; the latter are localized in the Precambrian shale-gneiss strata of Pobuzhskaya (Zavalyevskoe deposit, Shamraevskoe, Bogdanovskoe, Lozovatskoe manifestations, etc.); Priazovskaya (Dragunsky, Belotserkovskoye, Verkhnetokmatskoye and other manifestations) and Kropyvnytskyi (Zhovtyansky and other manifestations) areas. In addition, non-industrial occurrences of garnets of igneous origin are known in the Miocene dacites of the Vigorlat-Gutinsky ridge of Transcarpathia (Novoselitskoye, Vorochaivskoye, Kiolyarskoye) and alluvial occurrences in the coastal part of the Azov Sea (Belosaraiskoye, Urzufskoye, Osipenkovskoye and Nogaiskoye). Garnets from these deposits have good properties that meet the requirements of the abrasive industry. In the Kropyvnytskyi region, garnet is a rock-forming mineral of the shales of the Saksagan formation of the Kropyvnytskyi series, which is metamorphosed under the conditions of the epidote-amphibolite facies. Corundum There are six main genetic types of corundum deposits. There are six main genetic types of corundum deposits: – pegmatite (Ilmen Mountains in the Urals, Khibiny Mountains, Burma, Canada, etc., Borzovskoye deposit in the Urals, South Africa, etc.)
– hydrothermal (Semiz-Buga in Kazakhstan, Aktash in Central Asia, etc.)
– pneumatolithic-hydrothermal (Mogou in Burma, Rai-Iz and Borzovskoye in the Urals, Kashmir in India, etc.)
– matamorphogenic (Keyvy deposit on the Kola Peninsula, Dragunsky in Ukraine, the islands of Samos and Naxos in Greece, Namaqualand in South Africa)
– contact-metamorphic (Sinangoi deposit in Khakassia)
– exogenous (Semiz-Buga in Kazakhstan): jewelry stones are also mined from placers. In Ukraine, only non-industrial manifestations of matamorphogenic corundum are known, associated with Precambrian gneisses: Dragunsky, Partizanskoe and Obraztsivskoe in the Priazovsky region, Yugo-Khashchuvatsky, Lyushnevatoye and Kapitanivskoe in the Pobuzhsky region, etc. Only the Dragunsky occurrence was assessed, the predicted resources of which are equal to 9,5 million. tons of ore with a corundum content of 16-20%. The prospects for the remaining manifestations are unclear. ___________
In our store you can find stones from all over the world, from Ukraine, of course, too. Both calibrated inserts, that is, sorted by color, size and cut – for jewelry enterprises, and model and exclusive stones – for all lovers of beauty.