Scientific publications

Historical data, new findings and latest research results are combined to produce an updated assessment of the mineral resources of metals in the Republic of Karelia. The factual background for the study is the results of the assessments of strategically and economically important deposits and large manifestations of metals in the Republic of Karelia done by specialists of the IG KarRC RAS, PGO Sevzapgeologiya, VSEGEI, IGGD RAS, VIMS, St. Petersburg State University, PO Nevskgeologiya, and JSC Polymetal. General information is provided on the history of subsoil use in the republic in the past. It is emphasized that the geological structure and formation history of useful minerals reflects various successive stages of the development of the Precambrian Earth’s crust in the region. Specifically, attention is given to the relationship between tectonic movements, deep-seated processes and geological events which determined the specific features of the geodynamic processes in the eastern part of the Fennoscandian Shield. Karelia’s main metal ore objects are named, such as the Kostomuksha ore district, which includes the Kostomuksha and Korpanga iron ore fields with a series of deposits and occurrences of iron ores and is part of the Severostal business ecosystem. Much emphasis is placed on the oxide low-sulfide titanomagnetite ores of the Pudozhgorskoye deposit of liquation-magmatic genesis within Burakovskiy lopolith boundaries, Aganozerskoye deposit of chromium and nickel ores, and Shalozerskoye occurrence of chromium ores with the associated precious metal mineralization. The vanadium-uranium ore type with carbonate-mica metasomatites and micas of the Onega ore region is characterized through the case of the Srednyaya Padma deposit. It is mentioned that the Lobash molybdenum-rhenium deposit is one of the world’s largest molybdenum-porphyry deposits of Archean age with favorable conditions for its open-pit mining. Economically important mineral resources include the Lobash-1 copper-gold deposit, the Maiskoye gold-quartz deposit, the Elmus gold ore cluster, and the Taloveis gold occurrence. The large Kitelskoye tin deposit in European Russia is located in the western tin-polymetallic subzone of the Salmi-Uksinsko-Kitelskaya ore zone. The first industrially promising platinum metal site, Viksha, was discovered in Karelia, and the Lukkulaisvaara platinum-palladium occurrence was found in layered intrusions in the Kuusamo-Paanajarvi- Tsipringa rift structure. In the Ladoga region, the Karku deposit of an “unconformity”- type uranium formation was studied in Riphean albite-carbonate-mica metasomatites.