Zobes U deposit, Zobes-Bergen District, Vogtland, Saxony, Germany

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Uranlagerstätte Zobes, Revier Zobes-Bergen, Vogtland, Sachsen, Deutschland

Uranium deposit in the western contact zone of the Bergen granite massif. The inital reserves are estimated at 5,900 tons of uranium, of which 4,950 tons were extracted by SDAG Wismut between 1947 and 1963.

The deposit consists of numerous NW-trending veins, hosted in Ordovician to Silurian phyllitic schists within a tract of land that is up to 1.5 km wide and extends in a roughly northeastern direction over a length of about 4 km along the western flank of the Bergen granite, between Zobes in the north and Mechelgrün in the south. Along its NE axis, the center of this area is occupied by the so-called Zobes horizon, a steeply dipping assembly of graphite schists and calcic silicate rocks, which are over- and underlain by metadiabases. All rocks are contact-metamorphically overprinted by the Bergen granite, which also led to the formation of scheelite-bearing skarns. The NW-trending veins cut this horizon at right to acute angles; close to the intercepts, their uranium contents were considerably elevated. Consequently, the shafts were sunk along a line that closely followed the Zobes horizon.

Apart from the uranium ores, the veins also carry Bi-Co-Ni-Ag ores, whose relative abundance increases from north to south. Since there was no interest in this type of ores, they were either left in place or dumped. The skarn bodies, which contain up to 8 vol.-% of scheelite, were not mined either.

Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

Allophane Andradite 'Apatite' Arsenopyrite Autunite Baryte Bergenite Bismuth Bismuthinite Bismutite

Brochantite Chalcopyrite 'Chlorite Group' Eulytine Ferberite Fluorite 'Garnet' Hematite Magnetite Malachite

Marcasite Mixite Molybdenite Orthoclase Phosphuranylite Pyrite Pyrrhotite Quartz Scheelite Schorl

Sphalerite Torbernite 'Tourmaline' Uraninite Uranocircite Uranophane Vesuvianite

41 entries listed. 33 valid minerals.

Localities in this Region

Germany Saxony Vogtland Zobes-Bergen District Zobes U deposit Mechelgrün Shaft 362 Shaft 59 Zobes Shaft 234 Shaft 277 Shaft 320

References