Rock
The well known amethyst deposit has been a classical visit for soviet times geologists and is located at a cliff on a cape!
There was just a book published on it, but I think mostly interesting for people specialising in every tiny deposit on the Kola Peninsula.
Although it would probably be near the bottom of an importance list! Amethyst crystals are usually only a few mm in size lining cm wide fractures, typicall up to 10-20 cm long. So in short, not really so rich but of local interest. They are light to medium color!
There is no comparison to the marvelous gem quality scepters found in the Urals between 1820s-1993! or even to other russian and former Soviet Union deposits.
Richer deposits of larger amethyst crystals most around 10 cm are located in nortern Finland but do not qualify to compete with other world deposits. They have more local interest among Scandinavian collectors and for tourists to the area.
Peter Lyckberg
"Siberian" amethysts are mostly represented by material from Kedon locality in Magadan oblast'.
Amethysts from Mys Korabl' (Ship cape) on Kola sometimes are quite colourfull and nice, but most part of material is quite weak-coloured. Of course this locality is regional importance.
Amazonite deposit on Ploskaya Mt. in Keivy is very important. Really it mined only in Summer and mined material transported in Winter in trucks by "zimnik".
The article is real target for criticism. First of all natural gas and oil aren't minerals. I don't know any U deposit exploiting in Arctic Russia. No one word is spoken about "gigant" Mo-Re-Cu deposit discovered on Kola in 90th.
Pavel Kartashov
David as Pavel is pointing out in Siberia, the Kedon deposit is quite well known, although in Europe a few hundred crystals, typically 1-3 cm tall have been exhibited at one time as maximum (Munchen). Kedon specimens are mostly medium to rather strongly colored, very lustreous.
From old European perspective, all deposits east of the water divider in the Urals,. i.e. most of the Ural pegmatites, hydrothermal amethyst veins etc from Alabashka-Murzinka further south down to Adui were in European eyes Siberian, although the Urals, is a region, not belonging to Siberia in modern Russian geographical classifiaction.
In fact most of the "Siberian" gem deposits are either in the Urals or Transbaikal!
The world famous "Siberian" amethysts came from hydrothermal veins first to the north of the village of Murzinka (in fact halfway to Alabashka) where a dozen main veins are called Taljan Mines. The largest fine crystal from here were found around 1820s and measure some 10 cm tall on matrix, the best one beeing around 6 cm. Little seem to be left here, at least in the upper levels.
There are some veins in the eastern part of the Alabashka pegmatite field, but over 50 major veins are found east of Mursinka, the largest beeing the former Wattika mine. Wattika produce some wonderful amethyst, most specimens preserved beeing in the 4-7 cm range.
The last mine worked was the Artemjewa Mine worked at 12 and 20 m level where some very beautiful amethyst scepters were found to 5 cm and some of fantastic gem quality. Trials at 30 m level in 1993 with no economical success.
Thanks Rock
Some of the best Ural amethyst were found in a farming field to the NE of Ekaterinburg. Large and deeply colored hydrothermal.
In the Polar Urals, the Khasavarka deposit carried some superb deep amethyst crystals in the 1980s.
There is a deposit on the nortehrn shore of Lake Balkash in Kazachstan that produced small scattered amethysts, typically 1/2 cm each and 2-3 crystals on a hand specimen.
In the Far East, a small vein (only a prospect, hand dug pit 2 m deep) produced pale amethysts to 10 cm with octahedral pyrites to 3.5 cm growing on the faces (unusual)
There are great many quartz deposits which were mined not only in the Polar Urals.
Almost unknown, even in Russia are superb Dauphine habitus plates with colorless crystals from a vein in the Alabashka field, Urals! (almost identical to La Gardette!)
Peter Lyckberg
Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2009 12:45AM by Rock Currier.
