G.Info: State of the Environment - Georgia - Mineral Resources

The Borjomi mineral water and the mining of manganese have traditionally been the “trademarks” of Georgia’s mineral resources. These and many other resources were utilized in the country to “feed” the giant industrial machine of the Soviet economy. Inefficient mining of the variety of minerals are classical examples of environmental mismanagement. Collapse of economic system has left the country with huge social problems in “ghost” cities with dysfunctional industrial complexes.

Relatively small-scale mining sites are still operational and this is where environmental impacts are experienced and these impacts are expected to grow further as transitional processes proceed.

There are more then a hundred quarries and sites, which allow to extract:

• Fossils: oil, gas, coal, peat
• Metals: manganese, arsenic, copper, lead, zinc, iron, silver, gold, etc.
• Mining of barite, andesite, bentonite clay, diatomite, talc, calcite, basalt, etc.
• Non-mined resources:
  • For metallurgy: diatomite, limestone, molds sands.
  • Ceramics: kaolin, clays, trachyte, rhyolite, pegmatite.
  • Gem stones: tur quise, agate, onyx, obsidian, gagati, jasper.
  • Construction and materials: limestone, tuff, marble, basalt, teshenite, granite, diorite, porpirite, gabro, sand, gravel, cement, gypsum,, etc.
• Subsurface waters: fresh water, mineral water, thermal water, medical mud.

Among the new and perspective raw materials it is worth mentioning the mining of lithographic stone and zeolites.

Currently efforts are under way to develop relevant approaches to the management, use and protection of mineral resources:

• Enactment of new legislation for the exploitation of mineral resources
• Reconstruction and development of infrastructure for the survey, mining and use of mineral resources
• Elaboration of the Policies and strategies for the protection and rational exploitation of mineral resources.