Мінеральні ресурси України (Nov 2021)
Solone ore field – a priority target for the start of gold mining in Ukraine
Abstract
10 gold deposits and more than 200 occurrences have already been discovered in Ukraine. They are located within the Carpathian-Crimean, Dnipro-Donetsk and Ukrainian Shield metallogenic provinces. The richest gold-bearing province is the Ukrainian Shield (USh). Its gold resources are estimated at least 2,400 tons. The main attention in the article is given to the Solone ore field (SOF), which is located within the Middle Dnipro subprovince of the USh province. Gold resources of SOF are about 1000 tons. We consider it is the most promising gold field for development, on the basis of next key factors: 1) gold mineralization is localized in high mineralized early Precambrian greenstone formations. Its analogue is the Porcupine gold field in Canada; 2) simple geological structure with a clear ore-caused and ore-control role of subvolcanic acidic rocks; 3) two medium-scale gold-molybdenum deposits, Serhiivka and Balka Zolota, have already been discovered, as well as Apollonivka, East-Apollonivka, Novyi, Tetyana’s, Dorozhnyi, Rozrakhunkovyi, Central, Soniachnyi gold ore occurrences; 4) localization in the industrially developed Dnipro region, which includes world-class deposits of iron (Kryvyi Rih basin) and manganese (Nikopol basin), as well as deposits of national level – titanium, aluminum, etc.; 5) Serhiivka and Balka Zolota deposits are complex gold-molybdenum deposits. In addition, molybdenite contains a high content of Re and Os, which can be extracted as very expensive components; 6) buried alluvial gold placers are known in the Paleogene rocks of the sedimentary cover above primary ore deposits. In view of these favorable geological and economic circumstances, SOF has real prerequisites for the start of gold mining in the near future. Serhiivka deposit is the high priority target for development within the Solone ore field.
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