Concept of mineral deposits, ore fields and their structures
Abstract
All textbooks on the geology of mineral deposits provide only the geological and economic definition of a mineral deposit. This definition is usually formulated as follows: a mineral deposit is an area of the Earth's crust with a characteristic geological structure in which the mineral is concentrated in quantities sufficient for exploitation, and its quality meets the requirements of industry. This definition is correct, but it does not clearly reflect the economic side of the problem. The fact is that it is not always economically feasible to develop even such a deposit, in which the mineral is concentrated both in quantity and quality sufficient for exploitation. For example, chromite deposits in the Polar Urals are characterized by ores of high quality (magnoochromite metallurgical ores) and contain ore in quantities sufficient for exploitation. However, the development of these deposits is currently not economically feasible for the following main reasons: the nearest railroad station is 250 km away from the area of the deposits; carrying out a railroad or highway is associated with great difficulties due to swamps, sharply dissected relief and permafrost; there are no consumers of chromite ore in the Komi ASSR. Consequently, at present the chromite deposits of the Polar Urals cannot be considered industrial, although the ore here is of high quality and the quantity is sufficient for exploitation ...
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