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Mineral resources
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3.1.4 Mineral resources
The resource base of the upper part of the Basin (within the Russian Federation) is rather scarce and limited to relatively small deposits of low-grade coal and peat. However, the rich and diverse mineral resource base in the Belorussian and Ukrainian parts of the Dnipro Basin have driven the large-scale development of mining and processing industries.
The major mineral resource base of Belarus is concentrated in the Dnipro Basin, particularly in the Pripyat Saddle, supplying raw materials and mining products
(e.g. potassium salt and rock salt) to internal and external markets. There are also considerable oil and gas reserves in this part of the basin. Overall, there are 60 oil fields, of which 38 are being developed, 13 explored and 9 temporarily closed. Annual production of natural gas was reported to be about 252 million m3. Moreover, the mineral resource potential of the Belorussian part of the Dnipro Basin is yet to be fully realised. In addition, there are also substantial reserves of peat in this part of the Basin with an estimated capacity of about 3 billion tonnes, although actual production is significantly lower.
A significant proportion of the national mineral resource of Ukraine is also concentrated in the Dnipro Basin, and together with the related mining industries is one of the major contributors to waste generation and environment pollution. Of 7,829 mineral resource deposits registered with and accounted for in the State Mineral Resource Budget of Ukraine, 57% are located in the Dnipro Basin and 53% of the total number are being exploited. The most important mineral resources are oil and gas; coal; peat; iron, manganese and titanium/zirconium ores; kaolin; bentonite clay; and a broad spectrum of building materials (e.g. cement, rough and crushed stone, ceramic materials). Figure 3.4 shows the contribution of mineral reserves in the Dnipro Basin to the Ukrainian national mineral resource.
In the Krivy Rih area (on the right bank of the Basin), iron ore was historically extracted at 10 quarries and 23 mines, most of which have recently closed. The total area of all quarries is 40.5 km2, with a void space of 6.5 km3, and depths as great as 300 metres. There are also 44 mining waste disposal sites, occupying an area of 69 km2 with a total waste volume of 1.64 km3. A further 1.4 km3 of ore enrichment process waste is stored at waste disposal sites for mine tailings.
Near Kremenuchug (on the left bank of the Basin), there are 2 operational quarries which have a void space of 0.8 km3 and depth of up to 150 m, together with 11 waste disposal sites for mine tailings covering an area of 5.4 km2. There is also a sludge storage site of approximately 14 km2 located directly within the Vorskla River floodplain. This site has caused progressive salinisation and contamination of the alluvial aquifer associated with the Dnipro River. Sludge fields and tailing waste disposal sites are inherent to the ore enrichment and agglomeration industries concentrated in the Krivy Rih and Kremenchug areas. The length of each site varies from 4 to 10 km, with widths ranging from 2 to 5.5 km.
The storage of waste and the continued pumping of saline wastewater from mines and quarries (up to 50 million m3 per year) has led to concern over increasing levels of pollution in the Lower Dnipro and Dniprovsky Liman (the Dnipro Estuary). Average mineralisation in these waters is 12 g/l, although levels of up to 46 g/l have been reported.
Figure 3.4 Contribution of mineral reserves in the Dnipro Basin to the Ukrainian national mineral resource
In the Samara river basin (a tributary of the Dnipro) 10 mines are operated which have generated over 20 million m3 of mining waste. This is accumulated in 13 waste storage sites with a total area of over 100 hectares. In the Nikopol manganese ore field, 10 quarries and 7 mines are in operation. The waste material generated over the operational life of these is stored at 15 sludge disposal sites.
The Dnipro/Donetsk oil and gas field, extending along the left bank of the Middle Dnipro in the form of wide strip (50-100 km), is the largest petroleum-producing region in Ukraine. It contains about 300 deposits (including mixed oil/gas fields) and production has recently stabilised at 2.0 million tonnes of oil, 12 billion m3 of gas, and 1.0 million tonnes of gas condensate per year.
