For the sustainable development of the Uralian region
One of the unique features of the Urals is the wide spectrum of mineral resources found there that involves most of the known chemical elements on Earth. In particular, iron ore is mined in the south Urals, and there are rich deposits of zinc, copper and gold. The abundance of and the easy access to the natural resources have led to the currently dense industrial life, which basically involves ores being processed in several large industrial complexes. Nevertheless, the exploitation of the surface resources has become increasingly extravagant, while the quality of ore reserves has deteriorated. In addition, there is an ever-growing industrial demand on zinc metals, while copper is predominantly produced in the South Ural region. Urged by these, the MINURALS project focused on testing the mineral potential of alternative resources including sedex-type zinc deposits and sulphide ores valorised by the presence of precious metals such as copper-gold in the porphyry copper deposits. Researchers also employed new geophysical and geochemical technology for exploring still unidentified resources of gold in epithermal deposits. Another important area of project's research was the environmental consequences related with the mining of the deposits and the metallurgical processing of the ores. By conducting a thorough study on the cycle of polluting elements the project work was able to identify suitable remediation steps for controlling the environmental impact. The identified appropriate environmental constraints along with the regional mineral potential set the common basis for changing the local legislation in terms of mining and environmental law. Moreover, the scientific and technical cooperation with Russians led to very interesting results whose information was disseminated to the international scientific and industrial community. The slide presentation of the final project workshop that was organised in Orleans, the 2nd July, 2003 can be found at: http://minurals.brgm.fr/
