The history of gold mining in the Caucasus has its roots in ancient times. Suffice it to recall the legend of the Golden Fleece and the campaign of the Argonauts, the stories of Strabo and other ancient and medieval authors.
In this article, the reader will get acquainted with two publications that were published over 100 years ago. These works tell about the facts of gold mining in the Caucasus.
What the newspaper told its readers in the "Caucasus" 1850

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About gold-bearing sands near the city of Mozdok in the Terek River.

The city of Mozdok is located in the Stavropol province, on the left side of the Terek River, at a distance of 281 versts from Stavropol, where in 1820 there was a Jesuit of the Roman Catholic Church, Pater Gandry, and secretly mined gold on the left bank of the Terek River, which was inquired in 1827 already, serving under the head of the former Caucasian region, court adviser Yuposha-Zalutsky and brought to the attention of the authorities at the beginning of 1833. As a result, Ober giten for walter Follendorf was sent to discover these gold-bearing placers (note by Z. Margiev. In the "Table of Ranks" introduced in Russia by Peter I, this position corresponded to the military rank of "lieutenant." courts, offices and provinces) who reported that although it was ordered to him to find out from Pater Gundry himself where he mined gold, but as this Pater was exiled abroad back in 1828, he Vollendorf could not learn anything, and therefore began do reconnaissance on the left side of the Terek River, 3 versts from the city to the confluence of the Malka River and in Malka itself, and throughout this space, both in river sand and in coastal sediments, as well as on the right side of these rivers found very small gold, which is contained in a hundred pounds of sand up to 1/8 of the spool and not much more.
The property of the gold-bearing layer is as follows: from the surface below the peat, the layer of which is ½ to 1 ½ arshin thick, there is a layer of alluvial sand, yellowish, and sometimes grayish, up to ¾ arshin thick. It is followed by a layer of clay, blue and sometimes gray up to 1 arshin thickness. Both of these layers do not contain gold. Under this layer lies sand, consisting of pebbles, quartz, ladders, shale and part of porphyry, which by their roundness indicate the remoteness of their deposits. The upper part of this stratum contains more gold than the middle and lower ones, but it is impossible to go deeper into it for more than 1 ½ arshin, due to the inflows of underground water. G. Vollendorf, as can be seen from the above, did searches for gold along the Terek River only in the area from the city of Mozdok to the Malka River, and a little in this river. He did not experience any other rivers flowing into the Terek from the right side, nor did he explore the Terek itself from Vladikavkaz to Malka, due to an illness that happened to him.
All this was reported by the Treasury Expedition to the Chief Administrator of Georgia, Baron Rosen, in October 1834, and they reported to the Minister of Finance, with a promise to send a mining engineer for an accurate study of the Terek River as soon as the opportunity presented itself. But that it was fulfilled, it is not evident from the deeds. "

The second work: "Extract from the report of PD Davidov on the mineral wealth of the Transcaucasian region in general, on copper and gold in particular, read in the extraordinary collection of the Odessa branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society, dated October 12, 1884 (Collection of information about the Kutaisi province Issue 1 1885)

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“Without bothering the reader with other legends about Colchis, I believe that it will be quite enough to note only the facts about Russian rule in Transcaucasia, that is, from the beginning of the century to the present day.
Here they are, in chronological order:
1. In 1801, Major General Lazarev reported to Lieutenant General Knorring, among other things: "from the gold mines all the gold goes to the Tsar of Georgia."
2. In 1802, Major General Musin-Pushkin, in a report to the same Knorring, asks him to strengthen the Cossack team to protect the rich gold mines of the Cossacks from the attack of the Lezghins. (I believe that what has been said refers to the area in the vicinity of the village of Akhtala, along the Akstaf river, Kazakh district).
3. In 1830, the Tiflis Vedomosti published an article “Opinions of a mining engineer on the gold content of the Kura Valley placers (author unknown), which indicates the wealth of placers in the Kura River valley and insists on the need for serious exploration.
Note. The highly respected explorer of the Caucasus, Mr. Frederick Baern, assured me that the gold content of the upper reaches of the Kura River is beyond doubt.
4. In 1830, a mining engineer Guryev, who carried out exploration from the treasury, certifies that gold is found in the vicinity of Elisavetopol and on the Kashgar River ("Gorny Zhurnal", 1830) ...
... 6. In 1851, in the "Tiflis Vedomosti", in the article "On Industry in the Tushino-Pshavo-Khevsur District", there was information that in the mountainous Kakheti there are silver and gold ores, mined by order of Shamil.
7. In 1852, mining engineer Ivanitsky, on behalf of the gold miner Astashov, carried out exploration in the Lesser Caucasus and found gold placers in the valley of the Akstafa River, with a gold content of up to one spool in a hundred pounds of sand.
8. In 1853, Prince Bebutov also searched for gold along the rivers: Abas-Tuman, Potskhovka, Uravelka, as well as in the Kuban and Terek regions and found them gold-bearing.
In 1866, a Frenchman by birth, a certain Paul Casteng, who worked for many years in the mines in California and then by force of circumstances found himself in the Caucasus, spent all his funds (up to 10,000 rubles) in search of gold in the Ingura river valley). Mr. Kasteng's work has been crowned with complete success.
... Kasteng assured me that these deposits are richer than California ...
... I formulate my conclusion from the above something like this:
"All the rivers of the Caucasus, the valleys of which, although partly run along the main Paleozoic schists, are gold-bearing, and the gold in the alluvial deposits of river valleys owes its origin to erosion exclusively of systems of mineralized quartz veins and strata subordinate to the main Paleozoic schists."
Let's make a small digression. From time immemorial in the Caucasus, the weapons of the mountaineers, Georgians, and even Armenians, made horse hats and household utensils were abundantly decorated and are now decorated with silver. Ask, where does so much of it come from? Everywhere you will be given one answer: "your own, our local silver!" Who got it and when? "We ourselves, our fathers and grandfathers, before and now, have always mined!" And this fact is irrefutable, especially since the lead-silver ores in the Caucasus mountains are scattered in enormous quantities.
Having waged war for a century, the mountain peoples of the Caucasus did not buy lead.
There is also one state-owned lead-and-silver Alagirsky plant in the region.
The ridges of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, the most important Elbrus, contain in their bowels all that gold that has been washed out for thousands of years and continues to be washed out now, is carried and spreads along the valleys of rivers and streams that originate on the slopes of the said mountains.
Kuban, Terek, Ingur, Rion, Kura, Iora, Alazan, Agstafa, the basin of Lake Gokchay, this is the area of ​​gold-bearing area (at least 150,000 square miles), which California itself can envy.
When I talk about California, I remember that until 1849 nothing was heard of its wealth. On January 19, 1848, a peace treaty was signed in Guadeloupe by Gidalgo, according to which California passed from the hands of undemanding Mexicans to the possession of the United States. Lucky chance pointed out to a simple militiaman, Mormon James Marshall, at the water sawmill, built on a tributary of the Socramento River and owned by Captain Sutter, to which he became a simple worker, the signs of gold in the stream. This was the beginning.
Many years passed and President Lincoln said to the President of the Federal House, Mr. Colfax, who was going to inspect the Far-Best mines:
- Farewell, Kolfax, tell the miners that I am specially busy with the work of improving their life. The United States is the treasury of the entire globe!
These were the last words spoken publicly by Lincoln. A few minutes later he left for the theater, where he was killed by Booth.
I turn to the Caucasus. The Argonauts brought the first message of the Golden Fleece, and since then the wealth of Colchis has been considered traditional.
Strabo also wrote about them. The Genoese imported gold to Kafa from the coasts of the Caucasus. The Crimean khans took gold bullion from the Caucasian mountaineers. The Georgian and Imeretian kings handed over the development of gold mines at the mercy.
Above it was listed that during the current century (note by Zaur Margiev. IX century) the works of many persons and in different places ascertained the presence of gold as an undeniable fact.
Russia in the Transcaucasus has its own California. The government should pay special attention to this ... "

Continuation

Continuing the story about the gold fields of the Caucasus, I again turn to the press of the past centuries. On these pages, the reader himself learns directly how the exploration for gold-bearing rocks was organized in the Russian Empire. And again we turn to the newspaper Kavkaz, whose authority has not lost its significance today and continues to open new horizons now for our contemporaries.
Newspaper "Kavkaz" 1850, Nos. 39, 41.
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“Description of mineral deposits discovered in the Transcaucasian region from 1799 to 1848.

The proposed article was compiled by one hardworking official, according to official papers, and contains a systematic description of the ores of gold, silver, lead copper and iron found in the Transcaucasus. In addition, it talks about sulfur, rock salt, coal mines, oil wells, and so on. In order not to bore our readers with the monotony, we will not publish this essay in every issue of the Caucasus, but dividing it into articles, from time to time. Although already in our newspaper there were several articles about gold, we still publish an article: About gold mines, knowing from experience that gold is not such a thing that people could get bored with.

About the gold mines in the Tiflis district.

a) On Mount Yagluj and in the rivers: Debed, Temple and Alget.

... I am referring to the space lying from Tiflis to the Red Bridge, or the Temple River, where searches for gold were also made in 1820, by the former mining chief Karpinsky, who examined this space and noticed signs of gold in the mountains located 30 miles from Tiflis, between the villages Saganlug and Damurchasal, called Yagludzha, and in the rivers Debed, Temple and Alget, but apparently did not do any decisive research, which confirms that in 1828 he personally intended to carry out the most accurate reconnaissance in these places, but whether this was done - from cases are not visible. Most likely, that was not the case, because in 1832 Ober Gitten for Walter of the 8th class Follendorf was appointed to reconnoitre these places (note by Z. Margiev. In the "Table of Ranks" introduced in Russia by Peter I, this position corresponded to rank “lieutenant.” Civil (state) - secretary in court courts, offices and in the provinces) and the instructions given to him are told that there is no information about these in the files. G. Follendorf also did not do anything on the occasion of the coming autumn stormy weather, and it is not evident from the deeds that anything was subsequently undertaken to find gold in these places.

About exploration, produced for gold in Imereti, Mingrelia and Guria.

After the plain stretching from Tiflis to Elisavetpol (approx. Z. Margieva Elisavetpol (Ganzha), the former capital of the Ganja Khanate. In the period from 1804 to 1918 it was called Elisavetpol. In 1935 it was renamed Kirovabad (in honor of S. M. Kirov)) the name Ganja was restored in 1989. Ganja is the second largest city in Azerbaijan) and the Kazakh gold mine - the attention of the authorities was drawn to Imeretia, Mingrelia and Guria, within which, according to the legends of historians, ancient Colchis is supposed to be. A mining party was sent there in 1805 to find all sorts of minerals, including gold-bearing placers. This party, having explored the aforementioned country and found various minerals, could not discover gold anywhere, despite the fact that this noble metal attracted all its attention. After that, this country remained at rest until 1821, in which G. Chief Governor of Georgia, General of Infantry Yermolov, drew attention to ancient Colchis again, instructing the mountain chief in Georgia, Karpinsky, to survey Guria and Mingrelia and more accurately investigate them. G. Karpinsky, starting to fulfill this, had in mind in particular to find those alluvial layers in the mountains, coastal and river sediments, from which, as the history of this region tells, the inhabitants of the Svaneti region extracted in large quantities native gold, through the immersion of runes in the rivers Rion and Tskhenis-tskali. That is why G. Karpinsky tested with particular attention the alluvial beds, coastal sediments and river sands, in many places of Guria, Imereti and Mingrelia, but with the most accurate studies he did not notice any signs of gold anywhere. At the end of his exploration, G. Karpinsky received information that 15 versts from the town of Ozurget, between the village of Oanez and the fortress of Oskano, there is a vast elevated plane, called in Tatar (chizil-dag) the golden mountain. The name of the mountain prompted him to examine it in great detail, and it turned out that it consists of layers of clay shale, with thin washings of iron ocher, sandstone and yellow clay, with scattered grains of iron pyrite.
In 1824 they were sent to Imereti, Mingrelia and Guria, for the final examination of these, Gg. Voskoboynikov and Kryzhanovsky, but they did not manage to find gold either.
All these intelligence services were reported in detail to G. Minister of Finance in February 1827, following the remarks of G. Gamba, who was traveling around the local area. (note by Z. Margieva. French consul in Tiflis, famous traveler and learned chevalier (chevalier) Jacques Francois Gamba (1763-1833) (M. Yu. Lermontov mentions him in his novel A Hero of Our Time). Gamba in two volumes was published in Paris in 1826 under the title "Travel to Southern Russia and mainly to the Caucasian regions"). execution of the Imperial will of the Sovereign Emperor, in the Mining Department, which concluded: that the reason for the unsuccessful attempts to establish mining production in Georgia was almost inconvenience and difficulties, which, due to various circumstances, were always accompanied by mining exploration. As a result, the Highest commanded to start again to survey the region. The reasoning and conclusion of the Department of Mining and Salt Affairs, published in detail in the XII book of the mining magazine of 1827.
After that, Imereti, Mingrelia and Guria were repeatedly subjected to private research. Lastly, decisive in 1843, which was done by the mining official Carteron, who explored all the lead deposits there, but G. Carteron does not mention in his description that he would find even the slightest signs of gold somewhere.

On testing ores for gold and on discovered gold deposits in different parts of the Transcaucasian region.

Testing for gold in the Narsky, Bagansky and Zaginsky gorges.
In 1826, the Gorsky district chief delivered to the governor of Georgia, Lieutenant-General Velyaminov, various breeds withdrawn from the gorges of Narsky, Vagansky and Zaginsky, containing, in his opinion, gold. These rocks were tested by a mountain expedition and were found to consist of: a) taken from the Narsk gorge, from alluvial clay, which occurred from the destruction of rocks of the flats formation, (note Z. Margiev. "Flets" - horn., German layer, layer, shale. Horizontal layer of useful rock) in which nothing metallic was found. b) from Vaganskoye, from hardened clay, containing particles of one pyrite; and c) Zaginsky, from solid feldspar, (note by Z. Margiev. Spars are minerals that easily split into plates. The term is of Swedish origin. "Field" - due to the frequent finding of debris on Swedish arable land) has quartz grains in admixtures. These rocks are common in the local area, and, having partly voids, colored with iron oxide, resulting from the destruction of pyrite, become similar to the Berezovsky gold-bearing ores.

About the gold placers of suspects in the Abaran Valley.
The Abaran Valley is located in the former Armenian region, the present Erivan district, through which the Abaranka River flows, which originates in the Alagez Mountains. A surveyor sent in 1828 (approx. Z. Margiev. Specialist in the exploration and geological development of mineral deposits) Kuhn, for a geognostic description of the Armenian region, wrote: that this valley appears to be capable of containing gold-bearing sands, because it is dotted with many spiky pebbles, primordial and transitional rocks, and that many rivers flow into the Abaranka River, also originating from the Alagez Mountains. Mr. Kuhn, in the absence of hand workbenches with him, could not make a satisfactory test of this new valley for gold. Due to the time, this valley was not subjected to any research, although several times after that, mountain officials were sent to that direction, among whom only Voskoboinikov, sent in 1832 to the Armenian region, was cochineal for research (note Z. Margiev. Insect, from the females of which they extract the substance used to obtain the red dye - carmine) tried to search for gold-bearing placers in the Darachichag and side valleys, but did not discover them anywhere.

About gold-bearing placers, suspected in the rivers flowing into Lake Gokchu.
(Note by Z. Margiev. Gokcha is a lake in the Transcaucasus (in antiquity Gyogarkuni, among the Armenians - Sevanga, Sevan)
Lake Gokcha, or Gög-chai, is located in the present Erivan district, 172 versts from Tiflis. It keeps its waters on the rise of the mountains separating the Erivan district from Elisavetpol. The surface of the lake water as measured by G. Abikh, (approx. Z. Margieva Otto Wilhelm Hermann von Abich 1806-1886 - German geologist, naturalist and traveler. One of the founders of the geological study of the Caucasus) is 5873 English feet above sea level, the rocks that make up the coast, in particular the northern one, are explained in detail in the geological descriptions of mine surveyor Kuhn and berg-geshvoren (note Z. Margiev. Ustar. (German Berggeshworner). Mining overseer. Mountain rank XII class, as well as an official overseeing the progress of work inside the mine. ) Guriev, who traveled in 1828. G. Kun in his description, by the way, says that streams and rivers flowing from the southeastern side into Lake Gokchu, according to local regulations, may contain a large number of gold-bearing placers. Lake Gokcha thereafter was repeatedly examined and described by various mining officials, but in none of these descriptions is it found that anyone attempted to find gold in the places indicated by Kun.

About gold in the Zalibanchay river.

The Zalibanchay River, flowing through the Zakatala Gorge, in the closest distance from the Zakatal fortress, to the east of it, was tested in 1831 by Hittenfelwarter Kleimen, who found in it, as well as in its elevated banks, consisting of clay and sandy sediments - the presence of gold in the form of the finest sparkles. Sands in the river and coastal sediments consist mainly of a phallade or slate (approx. Z. Margiev. Black, easily prickly into thin layers, a difference of clay slate) and vein quartz, containing copper and iron pyrites and lead luster, i.e., rocks from which consists of the southern part of the Caucasus Mountains, which make up the border of Kakheti and the Dzharo-Belokansky District, as well as feldspar, on which calcareous layers and clay and sandy sediments rest.
The Zalibanchay river and its coastal sediments, as can be seen from the reports of G. Kleimenov, were subjected by him only to a light test, without determining the amount of gold, according to the accepted rule, in hundred pounds. This discovery was reported in the same year to G. Chief Governor of Georgia, but that these placers were subsequently tested with accuracy, that is not evident from the cases.

Testing for gold of the ores found in the gorges of Tsokhva and Patsora.

The Tsohva and Patsora gorges are located in Tusheti. Prince Head-Captain Chelokaev (note Z. Margiev. Princes Cholakashvili descend from the Genoese Italians who arrived and conquered Kirimi (Crimea) around 1100 AD. These settlers carried on extensive trade from the Pontic Sea to the Caspian Sea. their leaders liked the town of Gemri in Dagestan, where he moved with a multitude of people. They are now called genoels (Genoese) and kobachi. and cattle, poisoned pastures and embarrassed local residents, but for this reason, the natives rebelled against him, robbed him and expelled him. favorably, since both Cholaga himself and his ancestors rendered many services to Georgia and its kings, and for this reason, the king confirmed him in princely dignity and presented lands in Kakheti.
Since then, as is known from the history of Georgia M. Janashvili, these Genoese Cholakashvili played an outstanding role in the fate of the Kartvelian people, but especially the rulers of Kakheti, where they were exclusively ministers, commanders-in-chief, bishops and educators of kings.) Discovered gold ores there, precisely at the villages of Chaglauri and Zhvelurtakh, and brought this to the attention of G. Commander-in-Chief of Georgia, in the month of July 1883. He presented two samples of ore lands, explaining that the ores taken from these lands were sampled by the Greek Ilya Georgov, and were, according to his certificate, containing natural gold.
The treasury expedition, having received from G. Commander-in-Chief a memorandum from Prince Chelokaev, without samples of the earth, and having seen from the resolution available on this, which was ordered to convey it to the 5th class Oberberghauptman Osipov, believed that the samples of the earth were with G. Osipov, and therefore asked his notifications of the merit of those works and where they are. But G. Osipov, after many repetitions, did not answer this until 1838. In the same year he wrote that he did not receive any ores from Prince Chelokaev and Chelokaev himself appeared to him, despite the fact that his expulsion was ordered from the mining department, the Tiflis City Police in the same 1833.
Before that, precisely in 1832, she was presented to G. Chief Governor of Georgia by a resident of Signakh, Rustamov, who had in the ore of his Greek georgov's exploration party, an ore called gold, and gold smelted from it. This gold-bearing ore, according to Rustamov's testimony, was found by him in Tushetia (but where it was not explained exactly), after testing which it turned out that it contains only copper pyrite, without the slightest sign of gold. This circumstance forced to collect information on how the presented gold was smelted from pyrite, which did not contain it, and it was revealed that Rustamov bought from one official engaged in the goldsmith business, a little king alloy alloyed from pure gold (note Z. Margiev. Particle, grain, small ingot of pure gold , obtained as a result of alloying gold-bearing ore) and presented it under the guise of mined from that ore.
The Treasury Chamber, taking into consideration the explained ill-intentioned act of Rustamov, and finding the assurance of the Greek Georgov, as comrade Rustamov, not trustworthy in the gold content of the ores found by Prince Chelokaev, and at the same time the fact that the ores presented by Chelokaev were not tested and were not even found, that Chelokaev had not been to the Chamber in this case for more than five years, and that the ores presented by him should be of the same properties as those presented by Rustamov, and therefore the case was credited in August 1838 as resolved, and since that time it has not been renewed.
It is very strange how the imaginary ore of Rustamov could be considered one with the ores presented by Prince Chelokaev, while Chelokaev indicates where he discovered them, and Rustamov showed that the ore he presented was found in Tushetia, but where it is not known. It could easily happen that Chelokaev's mine could have been in another place, and therefore it seems that the main reason for leaving this matter without attention is almost the slowness of G. Osipov, in response to the first demand of the Treasury Chamber, and of course if he answered in a timely manner , then it would be possible to demand Chelokaev and find the ores presented by him.

Testing for gold of ores discovered near Derbent.

In 1835, ore was delivered to Major General Volkhovsky, located 4 versts from the city of Derbent, on the road to Karakaitaga, in which, according to Major Shnitnikov's report, gold is contained, as Akhtinsky resident Aga-Ali confirmed him in this. This ore was tested and turned out to be ocher sandstone, which did not contain any gold.

About gold ore discovered in free Svaneti near the village of Eli.

In February 1843, the headquarters of the Separate Caucasian Corps sent to the Tiflis Treasury Chamber a sample of gold ore found in free Svaneti, near the village of Eli, on the right side of the Ingur River, where the Cerit River flows into this. The sample tested in the Tiflis assay tent turned out to be a gold nugget containing quartz crystals as an admixture. One spool of this sample contained 82 1/3 parts of silver. Such a rich discovery excited the intention of the authorities to send a mining engineer to investigate this deposit. But before researching this, information was collected whether he could penetrate the village of Eli, which is still in the unconquered Svaneti, and it turned out that it was impossible to do this, why the case remained without movement.
Looking at the map of the Caucasian Territory, it turns out that the Ingur River has its source in Svaneti and, flowing through it along the steep mountains, receives more than 20 mountain rivers and streams. Then it carries its waters to the plane of Mingrelia, not far from the residence of Prince Dadiani, the town of Zugdid, and pours them into the Black Sea near the fortification of Anaklia. From which is the conclusion that the Ingur River, emerging from the steep mountains of Svaneti, with the speed characteristic of upland rivers, and flowing through the plains of Mingrelia, before entering the sea, at a distance of almost 70 versts, should, according to known laws, carry away gold deposits with it and precipitate them on flat place of its course. And that this certainly happens, it is convincing that this mine is located near this river. And this mine is not new, but came to the surface together with others, during the uplift of the Caucasian ridge, which is partly washed out by the waters, and partly washed out. "

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The old regions of gold mining will continue to play a leading role in gold mining for a long time to come, and their development should be the main focus. But the task of further development of the gold industry does not allow us to restrict ourselves to the already exploited regions. The currently known geological characteristics of the Azov-Black Sea and North Caucasian territories, as well as the known gold content of individual areas, provide rich material for further study of these regions. This is largely helped by archaeological finds of ancient gold items. Until 1930, neither in the literary nor in the archival materials of information about the gold content of the territories of the Azov-Black Sea Territory and North. There was no Caucasus. Only in 1930/31, a search party sent from Moscow established the gold content of the Labinsk region. The commercial gold content was first established by the Sevkavpolimetal exploration party. At the end of 1932, an independent Labinsk prospecting department was organized, the main task of which was to further cover the region with prospecting exploration, detail the discovered gold-bearing areas and associated gold mining by attracting miners to this work. Already in 1933, prospecting work was organized in the Kuban, Teberda, Rozhkoa, and almost exclusively the local population was attracted, thanks to which gold mining was concentrated mainly near settlements.

Noble metals

Silver- sparkling white metal. Hardness 2.5; density 10-11. Clark Silver in earth crust 0,00001%.

The main minerals of silver are: native silver Ag (up to 100%); electrum Au, Ag (Ag 15-50%); argentite Ag 2 S (Ag 87.1%); proustite Ag 3 AsS 3 (Ag 65.5%); pyrargyrite Ag 3 SbS 3 (Ag 60%); kerargyrite AgCl (Ag 75.2%). Of great importance for the extraction of silver are silver-bearing fahlores, galena, enargite, chalcopyrite, and some other sulfides. In nature, wire formations of silver are known, less often it occurs in the form of crystals, of various shapes intergrowths, sometimes in the form of fine and coarse-plastic formations, small phenocrysts.

A large amount of silver is mined from polymetallic ores. Sometimes it is associated with galena. In some cases, it is obtained from the extraction of copper ores.

Since ancient times, silver has been used by man as a precious metal in jewelry, for minting coins. In alloys with copper, it is used to make silver items; it is used in cinematography and photography for the production of silver bromide.

The Mekhmaninskoye deposit of polymetallic ores with silver content has been explored in Azerbaijan. In the Armenian SSR, the gold deposits are Meghradzor in the Hrazdan region and Lichkvaz in the Meghri region - here the main components are gold and silver. An increased silver content was found at the Shahumyan lead-zinc deposit (Kafan, Armenia). At the Akhatlinskoye deposit, silver is found in polymetallic ores. Silver has also been found in the Zodsky gold deposit. In the North Caucasus, silver has been found in polymetallic ores mined in North Ossetia.

Silver is also found in other regions of the Caucasus.

Gold since ancient times it has been used by humans for jewelry, and later for minting coins. It is very scattered in the earth's crust, and its clarke is 5 * 10 -7%. Gold color from bright to light yellow. Strong metallic luster. Hardness 2.5. Density 15.5-19.3. Possesses malleability. Chemically inactive.

There are two main types of gold deposits: 1) ore gold - primary deposits; 2) placer gold- secondary deposits.

Of great industrial importance is native gold containing impurities of silver, copper, sometimes bismuth, palladium, rhodium, etc. Ore with a gold content of 1-2 g per 1 ton of ore is considered industrial, there are deposits with a gold content of 4-5 g / t and higher.

Gold is widely used in production jewelry... In alloys with platinum, it is used for the manufacture of various chemical equipment, and in alloys with platinum, silver and other metals it is used in electrical engineering. Gold is a part of chemical preparations for photography and is used in medicine.

Archaeological finds indicate that gold was mined in the Caucasus even in remote historical times.

Gold ore occurrences are established in Upper Svaneti and in some other places. In Armenia, gold is contained in the form of an admixture to the main ore in the deposits of copper, copper pyrite (Kafan, Shamlug, Alaverdi, etc.), sulfur pyrite (Tandzut), polymetals (Hamza, Akhtala). Gold occurrences have been established in the Lichkvazteysky region, the Zodsky gold deposit has been discovered.

Gold has been found in many places in Azerbaijan. In Georgia, placer gold-bearing sands are known in the basins of the Inguri *, Dambludka, Khrami, Pinazauri, Tskhenis-Tskhali and Saramula rivers.

* (During the construction of the Inguri hydroelectric power station, gold was simultaneously captured in the process of reclaiming the dam with a dredge.)

In the North Caucasus, the gold content of alluvial deposits of the valleys of the Urup, Vlasnichikha, Bizhgon, Kyafar, Zelenchuk, Teberda, Kuban, Malka, Baksan, Musht, Chegem, Urukh and Fiag-Don rivers has been established. It has long been in small amount gold is mined in the upper reaches of the Laba.

Platinum(Spanish for "platinum" - silver) and metals belonging to its group are very scattered in the earth's crust, and their clarkes make up one hundred millionths of a percent. The color of platinum is silver-white to black-steel. Metallic luster. Hardness. 4. Density 14-19. Possesses malleability. Melting point 1774 ° C. The fracture is hooked. Platinum is a chemically resistant, refractory and electrically conductive metal.

Fe-containing varieties are most often found in nature. native platinum... Of the minerals of the platinum group in the earth's crust, the most common polyxene Pt, Fe (80-88% Pt and 5-11% Fe). Industrial ore is considered to contain 1-2 g of platinum per 1 ton of ore.

Platinum and metals of its group - palladium, osmium, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium - are used in the chemical and electrical industries, as precious metals- in jewelry. Due to its corrosion resistance, resistance to high temperatures and other properties, platinum is widely used in various fields of technology.

In the Caucasus, and primarily on the territory of the Armenian SSR, there are geological prerequisites for the discovery of platinum deposits (E. Kh. Gulyan). Platinum is also found in the ores of the Zodsky gold deposit. This metal is found in the ores of many other deposits of the Caucasus; its associated extraction is of interest.