Natural stone is a common building material, characterized by strength, durability and natural beauty. Its mining is a profitable business, especially in areas with open outcrops of stone conglomerates. There are many such places on the planet, they are easy to find; it is often enough for geologists to study the surrounding terrain and geological sections to make a conclusion about the presence of an industrial-scale deposit.
Stone is mined not only in the mountains and highlands; stone layers also occur on the plains. Essentially, stone is hard rocks that alternate with soft sedimentary materials, such as sand and clay. There are also hard sedimentary rocks, the most common of which are limestone, shell rock, and sandstone. The use of stone is in construction, architecture, sculptural products, and the creation of decorative items.
Types of stone and their characteristics
It is necessary to distinguish between stones that are considered minerals; they include a whole group of minerals with different parameters of strength, abrasiveness and other finishing characteristics.
Asbestos
- asbestos is a fibrous mineral that, when pressed, has the properties of stone;
- travertine, which experts consider an intermediate phase between limestone and marble;
- gypsum (alabaster) - used not only for sculptures, but also for building houses;
- mica is a natural flexible glass of varying transparency and color;
- marble, quartzite, diabase, silicon, characterized by a beautiful texture and used in various sectors of the national economy.
Gypsum
Another group of natural stones are rocks, that is, conglomerates consisting of several minerals. They can be grouped by origin categories. Stones of volcanic formation, that is, born during volcanic eruptions under enormous pressure and exposure to maximum temperatures.
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They are distinguished by high strength parameters, on the cut they have a beautiful pattern and multi-colored inclusions. Popular among them are granite, used for the construction of buildings, gabbro, from which door handles are made, sculptures, gneiss, which is granite with striped veins.
Stones of igneous origin, that is, representing frozen magma. This is pumice with air bubbles, granular and very durable diorite, basalt, which is considered a solid base under the surface layers of the earth's crust.
Sedimentary rocks - limestone, sandstone, shell rock, formed as sediments of the seabed. They were formed by the precipitation of mineral suspensions dissolved in water.
Shales are various minerals and rocks that occur in a slate-like form in the earth's crust. This is a whole group of stone materials used mainly in construction.
In addition, soft minerals such as talc and chalk are found on the ground in the form of stone deposits, which are most often used in crushed form.
Where to find and how to collect regular wood (beech, spruce and others)
Where to get wood? Of course, in the forest. At the very beginning of the game, when you do not yet have an axe, you can collect wood with your bare hands, by hitting the trunk with your fists, or simply picking up wood from the ground. When you have an ax, everything is much simpler, because there are forests and abandoned houses around you. If you find an abandoned building, then you have the opportunity to collect wood easily and quickly. Abandoned buildings can often yield other items as well.
Attention:
Do not use an ax or other tools to destroy the building. Instead, place a workbench inside and only then start demolishing the walls and roof with a hammer (while holding the hammer, click on the mouse wheel to demolish all the elements of the building). When you have collected everything you need, you can remove the workbench and move on. Even if you don't need wood, still look into abandoned buildings - they contain a lot of useful things.
In the black forest you can find more different types of wood, and in the swamps there are always many already fallen trees.
Stone mining methods
The main method of developing stone deposits is quarrying. Initially, the location is opened, the upper layers of the earth's crust are removed, a stone monolith is exposed and trenching begins. A vertical break is made, and then the dumping of stone fragments and loading them onto vehicles begins.
In this case, specialized equipment is used that splits or cuts monolithic pieces. Among the popular modern production technologies are the following:
- drilling and blasting method;
- stone-cutting;
- a method of pumping air into holes.
Stone-cutting is the most expensive, but preserves the raw materials in their original form, and when used, the lowest amount of material loss is observed. If formations are destroyed by explosions or air pressure, the loss is much greater, but the costs of these extraction methods are minimal.
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How to extract leather
Leather and leather scraps can be obtained from deer and boars, respectively. Boars may themselves come running to you in order to attack, and you can also tame a boar. But for the sake of deer skin you will have to try: these animals are very shy and attentive, so you will have to hunt them.
Granite deposits in the world
Huge reserves of granite are found in China. They amount to more than 50 billion cubic meters. m. Stone mining is carried out in 27 provinces of the country. The main works are carried out in Shandong, Fujian and Gaundong. They account for approximately 85% of the total volume of material produced in the country. Chinese granite predominantly has gray shades. Along with it, pink, orange, bluish-green and dark red varieties are mined. The most famous varieties:
- Shanxi Black, Sesame Black and Black Beauty (black);
- Butterfly Green (dark green);
- Sunset Gold (yellow with black flecks)
Granite quarry in China
Italy
The Mediterranean country is considered a pioneer in the development of the breed. It was here that the first material processing technologies were born. Italian granite has high decorative properties. More than 100 types of stone are mined in the country. The main ones:
- Rosa Sardo Ghiandone, Beta Rosa (pink);
- Spiderman (beige);
- Porfido Viola (red);
- Labradorite White (red).
Granite quarry in Italy
The most active developments are carried out in Piedmont, Sicily and Sardinia.
India
Most of the country lies on the Indian Granite Shield. Mining has been carried out on it since ancient times. Here are reserves of the world's most famous variety, Tan Brown. It is brown in color with burgundy spots. Kashmir gold is the color of golden sand. The amazing fork has Star Galaxy - black with twinkling stars. In total, more than 100 varieties are produced in the country. Indian granite is famous for its highest quality.
Iran
Iranian granite is considered the best in the world. As in China, its reserves in the country are huge. Hard rocks such as gabboro are being mined here. The most popular varieties are:
- Verde Borgogna, Golden Lightning (green);
- Verde Fantastico (rare green-brown);
- Crocodile (green with cream veins).
Brazil
The richest country in Latin America in reserves of decorative stone. Deposits of exclusive varieties with rare colors and patterns are concentrated here. The main colors of the extracted material are: pink, sky blue, beige, bright green, snow white, multi-colored, etc. Brazilian granite of an unusual yellow color is very popular. The most popular varieties:
- Azul Macaubas;
- Azul Bahia;
- Fusion;
- Delicatus Gold;
- Van Gogh.
Granite quarry in Brazil
Spain
Fourth in the world in terms of material processing development. The most valuable are considered to be pink rocks with black, gray and white inclusions. Spanish granite has low mining costs.
Ukraine
Pokostovsky granite mined in this country is most famous on world markets. Its development is carried out 30 km from Zhitomir. In the Kirovograd region, no less popular Kapustinsky granite is mined. The main direction of use of Ukrainian stones is the production of facing tiles and paving stones.
Extraction of Pokostovsky granite
African countries
Active development of stone on the African continent is carried out in Somalia, South Africa, Ethiopia and Namibia. The most valuable varieties are: Africa Blue, Namibia Blue and Tropical Sun.
Air bag
This type of mining, called controlled blasting, involves breaking off pieces of rock under high pressure. To do this, a hole is made in the formation, where a reservoir is placed, which is pumped with air. It expands, affecting the formation from the inside, cracks appear in the rock, and it splits. The technique prevents the appearance of microcracks in the material, makes it possible to predict fault locations with high accuracy, and does not pose a danger to the environment or nearby objects.
Responsibility
Responsibility for the extraction of stone without permits is established by Art. 7.3 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation:
- For individuals – 3,000 – 5,000 rubles.
- For officials - 30,000 - 50,000 rubles.
- For legal entities – 800,000 – 1,000,000 rubles.
Companies that violate licensing requirements are also subject to administrative liability:
- For individuals – 2,000 – 3,000 rubles.
- For officials - 20,000 - 40,000 rubles.
- For legal entities – 300,000 – 500,000 rubles.
Varieties of limestone rock
Limestone may vary. The reason why the breed is different in different places of birth is due to different ages. Limestone differs in appearance and properties. The following types of limestone can be noted:
- dolomitic limestones. Such a rock is formed if it contains an admixture of manganese oxide;
- sandy limestones. This rock is formed due to the presence of quartz, opal and chalcedony. Some rocks may contain clay.
Limestone may also differ in appearance. Differences exist only in color; there are no other external or tactile signs. The most common types of limestone mined are white, gray and yellow. Sometimes there are rocks of red and brown shades. Black limestone is the rarest; there are only a few deposits of such limestone in the world.
Depending on the above parameters, limestone may also differ in its density. But these differences are very minor. They range between 2500 and 3000 kilograms per cubic meter.
Granite deposits in Russia
Granite is mined in more than 50 quarries in the country. Russia is considered the world leader in terms of the amount of exploration data on deposits. According to geologists, reserves of granite lying in the depths of the country exceed 200 million cubic meters. m. Stone mining is carried out in many regions of Russia.
Karelia
The main deposit of the republic is Drugoretskoye. It is located 107 km from Petrozavodsk. It produces gabbro granite, which is unique in its properties and has a black color and a fine-grained structure. The main share of production at other fields is made up of medium-grained rocks.
Drugoretskoe granite deposit
Dymovsky granite is considered the most valuable. The stone is brown in color. Varieties similar in structure to it are mined in the following deposits:
- Andreevsky (gray and cream);
- Kashina Gora (shades of granite from pink with a gray tint to brown);
- Sopke Buntin (green);
- Garnet Amphibolite (red-brown with streaks);
- Syuskyuansaari (red and pink shades).
At the Letnerechenskoye deposit in Karelia, fine-grained granite of pink and dark red color is mined. Of the variety of granite varieties mined in the republic, only gabbro is popularly called Karelian.
Murmansk region
The most valuable granite in the Murmansk region is the stone mined at the Odyavr deposit. It is located on the Kola Peninsula, 17 km from the village of Tumanny. Experts consider it the standard of decorative facing stone.
In the Kandalaksha region there is the Vinga deposit, where light pink and pink medium-grained granite with a reddish tint is mined. The Kuzrechensky variety is considered the most beautiful stone mined in Russia. It is mined near Murmansk. It has a pink color with a gray tint, medium and coarse-grained structure.
Leningrad region
Active granite mining is carried out in the region on the Karelian Isthmus. There are deposits of pinkish-gray rapakivi here. This variety has found wide application in the architectural decoration of St. Petersburg. The main places of granite mining in the Leningrad region are considered to be the following quarries: “Vozrozhdenie” (Covent-Saari), Kamenogorsky (Antrea), Borodino (Sairala).
Ladoga granite is mined in the Priozersky district of the region. It has a coarse-grained structure and color ranging from pinkish-orange to red-pink and gray. Most often, the stone mined in these places has a spotted-striped pattern. Elizovsky granite is mined in the village of Dymovo. It has a medium and coarse-grained structure and a dark brown color with a red tint.
Siberia and the Urals
The main deposit of granite in Siberia is the Shartash massif, located near Yekaterinburg. Stone reserves here amount to 3.6 million cubic meters. m. Iset granite, which is mined at Lisya Gorka, has good mechanical characteristics. The stone has a heterogeneous color with numerous black inclusions and light spots.
Granite quarry near Yekaterinburg
Mansurov granite is considered the most popular material in the Urals. It is mined in the Uchalinsky region of the Republic of Bashkiria. The light stone has green inclusions. It is used mainly for the production of paving stones. The Mansurovskoye field is considered the largest in Russia.
Other large deposits
In the Republic of Sakha and in the Khabarovsk Territory, pink and gray stones are mined. In the Voronezh region, stone is mined in the Pavlovsk region at the Shkurlatovsky quarry.
Required documents
First of all, it is necessary to provide information characterizing the company, its financial and technological support:
- General information about the enterprise. The line of activity, form of ownership, participation in similar mining projects must be described.
- List of equipment and tools owned by the company. Documents that damage the right of ownership of the listed equipment.
- A financial report on the organization’s activities for the year preceding the application. The information must be confirmed by an accounting report and allow the planned work plan to be completed.
- List of partner companies of the applicant for a license.
- Detailed information about the founders of the enterprise, directors, representatives at the auction.
- Conclusions of the sanitary-epidemiological service.
You will also need organizational documents:
- Articles of association.
- Registration information.
- Extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
- TIN (for individual entrepreneurs).
- A certificate from the tax service confirming registration and absence of debt.
Documents must be submitted to the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources is responsible for issuing licenses.
