Mining has been conducted in Georgia for centuries. Today, Georgia's mineral industry produces manganese, copper and various types of quarried stone. Although the Georgian economy has experienced significant economic growth in recent years, growth in the mining and metallurgical sector has lagged behind that of the overall economy.
Metal mining in Georgia started with copper in the 6th-5th millennia B.C. [1] Gold mining has also been conducted in Georgia since ancient times. [2] One interpretation of the legend of the Golden Fleece supposedly held in ancient Georgia relates it to the local method of placer mining with sheep fleece to find gold. Pliny the Elder attributed the beginning of mining in western Georgia to King Saulaces of Colchis, who initiated gold and silver mining in Svaneti. [3] Georgians in antiquity also produced iron, copper, brass, and bronze. [1]
By the seventeenth century, silver mines remained a major source of wealth for Georgia, particularly in Imereti, while copper mining flourished in Kartli in the early eighteenth century. [4]
During the Soviet period, a range of minerals were mined in Georgia, which included arsenic, barite, bentonite, coal, copper, diatomite, lead, manganese, zeolite, and zinc, among others. Most of these commodities were still being produced in 2005, although in lesser quantities. The country had been a major producer of high-grade manganese ore for about a century, although ore reserves were being depleted. Part of the manganese was used within Georgia for ferroalloy production. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the level of mineral production in Georgia declined sharply. Although production in the mineral industry was reviving in 2005, Georgia did not produce any mineral products in quantities that would be of more than regional significance. [5]
Georgia's main role in the world mineral supply was to serve as a transport route for oil and gas shipments out of the Caspian region to world markets. Three of the new large oil and gas export pipelines that had been or were being constructed in the Caspian region pass through Georgia. These three are the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, and the Baku-Supsa (“Western Early Oil Route”) pipelines. No routes were planned to cross Armenia owing to Azerbaijan's troubled relationship with the country. [5]
In 2005, Georgia had 148 enterprises that were involved in mining and quarrying out of a total of 4,632 industrial enterprises, which comprised 3.2% of the total number of industrial enterprises. Seven of these 148 enterprises were state owned and the rest were private. In 2005, the labor force involved in mining and quarrying totaled 8,600 out of a total industrial labor force of 94,300, or 8.6% of the industrial labor force. State-owned mining and quarrying enterprises employed 5,700 people and private enterprises employed 2,900 people. Mining and quarrying contributed 10.4% of the total value of industrial production in 2005. [5]
Of the total value of output for mining and quarrying, state-owned enterprises produced about one-third of the value of output, and the remaining two-thirds was produced by privately owned enterprises. Of the total value of industrial capital stock, mining and quarrying enterprises accounted for 3.4% of the value. [5]
Georgia exported a large percentage of its major mineral products. These products included copper ores and concentrates, ferroalloys produced from domestically produced manganese ore, and nitrogenous fertilizers. The country also exported significant quantities of ferrous scrap and waste. Georgia's major mineral imports were oil and gas. [5]
Georgia has more than 300 explored mineral deposits, only about half of which have been brought into production. For the past 100 years, the manganese ore deposits near the town of Chiatura have represented a significant source of manganese ore production. Chiatura ores supplied the county's Zestaponi ferroalloys plant.
The Chiatura deposit's resources were estimated to be 215 Mt of manganese ore, of which about half has been depleted. The country has 11 explored oilfields with reportedly 28 Mt of oil resources; larger oilfields are also thought to exist.
Georgia reportedly has more than 400 Mt of coal resources.
The Black Sea coast in Adjara is thought to contain large gas fields with 8.5 billion cubic meters of resources already explored, and potential resources estimated to be 125 billion cubic meters.
The country also has resources of arsenic, barite, copper, diatomite, dimension stone, marble, and lead-zinc, as well as raw materials for producing cement. Important deposits include the Askana bentonite clay deposit in Ozurgeti, the Kisatibi diatomite deposit in the Akhaltsikhe District, the Kvaisa zinc deposit in the Java district, the Lukhumi arsenic deposit in the Ambrolauri district, and the Madneuli polymetallic (barite, copper, lead-zinc, pyrite, silver, sulfur, gold bearing quartzites) deposits in the Bolnisi region. [5]
Georgia's major revenues from minerals are expected to derive from its role as a transport route for the Caspian Sea hydrocarbons. Oilfield and gasfield development could take place off the Black Sea shelf as a number of major international companies are assessing the region's production potential. Only two mining enterprises are operating in Georgia — the Chiatura manganese enterprise and the Madneueli polymetallic mining enterprise. Both had previously lacked investment resources to introduce modern technology that would enable them to produce near their potential. In 2005, however, a joint venture of Austrian, Georgian, and Russian bidders reportedly won the privatization tender for the manganese mining enterprise for $132 million, and Stanton Equities Corporation reportedly won a privatization bid for a gold mine at Madneuli. [5]
The Economy of the Empire of Japan refers to the period in Japanese economic history in Imperial Japan that began with the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and ended with the Surrender of Japan in 1945 at the end of World War II. It was characterized by a period of rapid industrialization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the dominance of a wartime economy from 1938 to 1945.
Mining in Iran is still under development, yet the country is one of the most important mineral producers in the world, ranked among 15 major mineral-rich countries, holding some 68 types of minerals, 37 billion tonnes of proven reserves and more than 57 billion tonnes of potential reserves worth $770 billion in 2014. Mineral production contributes only 0.6 percent to the country's GDP. Add other mining-related industries and this figure increases to just four percent (2005). Many factors have contributed to this, namely lack of suitable infrastructure, legal barriers, exploration difficulties, and government control.
Romania ranks tenth in the world in terms of the diversity of minerals produced in the country. Around 60 different minerals are currently produced in Romania. The richest mineral deposits in the country are halite.
The Mining industry of Ghana accounts for 5% of the country's GDP and minerals make up 37% of total exports. Gold contributes over 90% of the total mineral exports. Thus, the main focus of Ghana's mining and minerals development industry remains focused on gold. Ghana is Africa's largest gold producer, producing 80.5 t in 2008. Ghana is also a major producer of bauxite, manganese and diamonds. Ghana has 20 large-scale mining companies producing gold, diamonds, bauxite and manganese; over 300 registered small scale mining groups; and 90 mine support service companies. Other mineral commodities produced in the country are natural gas, petroleum, salt, and silver.
Hydrocarbons are the leading sector in Algeria's mineral industry, which includes diverse but modest production of metals and industrial minerals. In 2006, helium production in Algeria accounted for about 13% of total world output. Hydrocarbons produced in Algeria accounted for about 2.9% of total world natural gas output and about 2.2% of total world crude oil output in 2006. Algeria held about 21% of total world identified resources of helium, 2.5% of total world natural gas reserves, and about 1% of total world crude oil reserves.
Mining in Afghanistan was controlled by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, prior to the August 15th takeover by the Taliban. It is headquartered in Kabul with regional offices in other parts of the country. Afghanistan has over 1,400 mineral fields, containing barite, chromite, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, petroleum, precious and semi-precious stones, salt, sulfur, lithium, talc, and zinc, among many other minerals. Gemstones include high-quality emeralds, lapis lazuli, red garnet and ruby. According to a joint study by The Pentagon and the United States Geological Survey, Afghanistan has an estimated US$1 trillion of untapped minerals.
The mineral industry is one of the main sectors of the Armenian economy and in 2017 accounted for 30.1% of its exports.
The mineral industry of Kazakhstan is one of the most competitive and fastest growing sectors of the country. Kazakhstan ranks second to Russia among the countries of the CIS in its quantity of mineral production. It is endowed with large reserves of a wide range of metallic ores, industrial minerals, and fuels, and its metallurgical sector is a major producer of a large number of metals from domestic and imported raw materials. In 2005, its metal mining sector produced bauxite, chromite, copper, iron, lead, manganese, and zinc ores, and its metallurgical sector produced such metals as beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, copper, ferroalloys, lead, magnesium, rhenium, steel, titanium, and zinc. The country produced significant amounts of other nonferrous and industrial mineral products, such as alumina, arsenic, barite, gold, molybdenum, phosphate rock, and tungsten. The country was a large producer of mineral fuels, including coal, natural gas, oil, and uranium. The country's economy is heavily dependent on the production of minerals. Output from Kazakhstan's mineral and natural resources sector for 2004 accounted for 74.1% of the value of industrial production, of which 43.1% came from the oil and gas condensate extraction. In 2004, the mineral extraction sector accounted for 32% of the GDP, employed 191,000 employees, and accounted for 33.1% of capital investment and 64.5% of direct foreign investment, of which 63.5% was in the oil sector. Kazakhstan's mining industry is estimated at US$29.5 billion by 2017.
The mineral industry of Russia is one of the world's leading mineral industries and accounts for a large percentage of the Commonwealth of Independent States' production of a range of mineral products, including metals, industrial minerals, and mineral fuels. In 2005, Russia ranked among the leading world producers or was a significant producer of a vast range of mineral commodities, including aluminum, arsenic, cement, copper, magnesium compounds and metals, nitrogen, palladium, silicon, nickel and vanadium.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to mining:
Mining in New Zealand began when the Māori quarried rock such as argillite in times prior to European colonisation. Mining by Europeans began in the latter half of the 19th century.
Resources are classified as either biotic or abiotic on the basis of their origin. India contains a multitude of both types of resource and its economy, especially in rural areas, is heavily dependent on their consumption or export. Due to overconsumption, they are rapidly being depleted.
Natural resources are abundant in Kosovo. Kosovo is mainly rich in lignite and mineral resources such as: coal, zinc, lead, silver and chromium, but also with productive agricultural land. Kosovo is also rich in forests, rivers, mountains and soil; Kosovo is especially rich in coal, being aligned among European countries as the third with the largest coal reserves. Kosovo possesses around 14,700 billion tons of lignite in reserves, which aligns Kosovo as the country with the fifth largest lignite reserves in the world.
The Chiatura mine is a large mine complex located near the town of Chiatura in central-western Georgia in the Imereti region west of the national capital Tbilisi.
Mining in North Korea is important to the country's economy. North Korea is naturally abundant in metals such as magnesite, zinc, tungsten, and iron; with magnesite resources of 6 billion tonnes, particularly in the North and South Hamgyong Province and Chagang Province. However, often these cannot be mined due to the acute shortage of electricity in the country, as well as the lack of proper tools to mine these materials and an antiquated industrial base. Coal, iron ore, limestone, and magnesite deposits are larger than other mineral commodities. Mining joint ventures with other countries include China, Canada, Egypt, and South Korea.
The mining industry of Morocco is important to the national economy. Morocco is the world's largest producer of phosphate, and contains about 75% of the world's estimated reserves. Mining contributed up to 35% of exports and 5% of GDP in 2011. Foreign investors have found the investment climate, the infrastructure, fiscal situation, and political stability very favorable to continue business in the country in this sector.
South Sudan is one of the African countries known as an important oil producer, whereas, South Sudan also has mineral resources like copper, gold, diamonds, limestone among others. Government is promoting investment particularly in exploration and also developing the mining projects in South Sudan.
The mining industry of Yemen is at present dominated by fossil mineral of petroleum and liquefied natural gas (LNG), and to a limited extent by extraction of dimension stone, gypsum, and refined petroleum. Reserves of metals like cobalt, copper, gold, iron ore, nickel, niobium, platinum-group metals, silver, tantalum, and zinc are awaiting exploration. Industrial minerals with identified reserves include black sands with ilmenite, monazite, rutile, and zirconium, celestine, clays, dimension stone, dolomite, feldspar, fluorite, gypsum, limestone, magnesite, perlite, pure limestone, quartz, salt, sandstone, scoria, talc, and zeolites; some of these are under exploitation.
The Azerbaijan is a country with very favorable natural conditions and rich natural resources. Snowy peaks, high mountains, foothill fertile soils, wide plains, Lowest Land Points Below Ocean Level are the main landscape forms of the republic. This complex landscape structure has resulted in a variety of natural conditions, climate, soil-vegetation, and water resources. This, in turn, led to the uneven distribution of population and farms on the territory, and the specialization of production on different types.
The metallurgical production of the Republic of Azerbaijan is considered high due to the large deposits of alunite, polymetallic ores, deposits of iron ore, etc. The metallurgy industry of Azerbaijan encompasses both ferrous and non-ferrous branches.
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