Марія

Mercury ores: properties, resource base, and prospects

Mer­cury ores are a strate­gi­cal­ly impor­tant raw mate­r­i­al that has played a key role for cen­turies in the devel­op­ment of the chem­i­cal, min­ing, and instru­ment-mak­ing indus­tries. The most wide­spread min­er­al in these ores is cinnabar (HgS), which forms eco­nom­ic deposits in the form of both telother­mal and strat­i­form deposits. Ukraine has a rich his­to­ry of mer­cury ore min­ing, par­tic­u­lar­ly with­in the Don­bas region, where the Myky­tiv­ka deposit—one of the largest in Europe—is locat­ed. In the 20th cen­tu­ry, the coun­try was among the world’s lead­ing mer­cury pro­duc­ers. Despite the ces­sa­tion of indus­tri­al extrac­tion in 1995, Ukrain­ian mer­cury deposits remain of sig­nif­i­cant sci­en­tif­ic and geo­log­i­cal inter­est.

Mer­cury ores is includ­ed in the list of min­er­als of nation­al impor­tance, approved by Res­o­lu­tion of the Cab­i­net of Min­is­ters of Ukraine No. 827 of Decem­ber 12, 1994, as ores of non-fer­rous met­als.

List of minerals of national importance

See the com­plete clas­si­fied list of min­er­als in Ukraine

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General information

Mer­cury (Hg), a chem­i­cal ele­ment of group 12 of the peri­od­ic table, has atom­ic num­ber 80 and an atom­ic mass of 200.59. Its name derives from the Latin term hydrar­gyrum, which in Greek means “liq­uid sil­ver”. In Tur­kic lan­guages, the word utarid also refers to the plan­et Mer­cury, with which the met­al has tra­di­tion­al­ly been asso­ci­at­ed. Sev­en sta­ble iso­topes of mer­cury are known, along with more than twen­ty radioac­tive iso­topes. Mer­cury is clas­si­fied as a rare met­al that occurs in nature in native (ele­men­tal) form, which is why it has been known to human­i­ty since antiq­ui­ty. Archae­ol­o­gists have found traces of its use in ancient Egypt­ian bur­ial sites, while in Chi­na it was known at least three mil­len­nia BCE. Alchemists attrib­uted spe­cial sig­nif­i­cance to mer­cury, con­sid­er­ing it the mate­r­i­al basis of all met­als.

In nat­ur­al con­di­tions, mer­cury is a heavy met­al with a bright sil­very sur­face that is liq­uid at room tem­per­a­ture. It melts at −38.86 °C and boils at 356.66 °C. The den­si­ty of liq­uid mer­cury is 13.6 g/cm³. Chem­i­cal­ly, mer­cury is rel­a­tive­ly inert: it does not react with hydrochlo­ric acid but dis­solves in aqua regia, nitric acid, and hot con­cen­trat­ed sul­fu­ric acid. The met­al has the abil­i­ty to form amal­gams with oth­er met­als, par­tic­u­lar­ly gold and sil­ver, which was his­tor­i­cal­ly used in met­al­lur­gy and gold extrac­tion.

Dur­ing ore for­ma­tion, mer­cury is trans­port­ed in the form of sul­fide com­plex­es, while min­er­al depo­si­tion occurs at tem­per­a­tures of 50–350 °C and pres­sures rang­ing from 1500 to 30 MPa. As the sys­tem approach­es the sur­face, pres­sure decreas­es to about 0.1 MPa. To date, more than twen­ty nat­ur­al mer­cury min­er­als have been described. The prin­ci­pal ore min­er­al is cinnabar (HgS), which remains sta­ble even in oxi­da­tion zones. Oth­er min­er­als include native mer­cury, metacinnabar, liv­ingstonite (HgS­b₄S₇), col­oradoite (HgTe), tie­man­nite (HgSe), corderoite (Hg₃S₂­Cl), calomel (Hg₂­Cl₂), and var­i­ous com­plex chlo­rides and oxy­chlo­ride min­er­als.

Genetic types of mercury deposits

Mer­cury ores have a hydrother­mal ori­gin and form as a result of the cir­cu­la­tion of ther­mal flu­ids in tec­ton­i­cal­ly active regions. They are clas­si­fied into sev­er­al main genet­ic groups: plu­ton­ic-hydrother­mal, vol­canic-hydrother­mal, and telother­mal (strat­i­form) types, as well as sev­er­al addi­tion­al cat­e­gories such as plac­er, coal-sul­fide, salt-dome, and even ther­mal-spring-relat­ed deposits.

Plu­ton­ic mer­cury deposits are asso­ci­at­ed with deep-seat­ed granitic mag­mas and are typ­i­cal­ly poly­metal­lic in char­ac­ter. They occur in rocks altered by seric­i­t­i­za­tion, chlo­ri­ti­za­tion, and sili­ci­fi­ca­tion. Ores are com­mon­ly found in vein sys­tems host­ed by quartz–chlorite–sericite and quartz–carbonate assem­blages. Exam­ples include Vosí (Chi­na), Gümüşler (Turkey), Taghit (Alge­ria), and Gort­drum (Ire­land).

Vol­canogenic deposits form with­in sub­aer­i­al vol­canic sequences, where mer­cury min­er­al­iza­tion fills frac­ture zones, pipe-like struc­tures, and inter­flow spaces. Typ­i­cal min­er­als include cinnabar, metacinnabar, pyrite, and native mer­cury. The ores often have an amor­phous or fine-grained tex­ture. The fol­low­ing ore-form­ing asso­ci­a­tions are dis­tin­guished:

  • Carbonate–argillizite type: Monte Ami­a­ta (Italy), Aktash (Altai, Rus­sia)
  • Opalite type: Cordero (Neva­da, USA), Chempurin­skoye (Rus­sia)
  • Travertine–sulfate type: Ter­lin­gua (USA)

Telother­mal mer­cury ores (the most wide­spread type) occur as strat­i­form deposits, stock­works, lens­es, or pale­okarst cav­i­ties. They are host­ed in sed­i­men­ta­ry sequences such as sand­stones, dolomites, and lime­stones. These deposits are com­mon­ly asso­ci­at­ed with zones of sili­ci­fi­ca­tion, listven­i­ti­za­tion, and argilliza­tion. The main ore min­er­als include cinnabar, native mer­cury, real­gar, and metacinnabar. The fol­low­ing ore-form­ing asso­ci­a­tions are dis­tin­guished:

  • Cinnabar–fluorite–stibnite for­ma­tion (Khaidark­an, Dzhizhikrut)
  • Cinnabar–carbonate for­ma­tion (Idri­ja, Wan­shan)
  • Cinnabar–terrigenous for­ma­tion (Myky­tivske, Almaden)
  • Listven­ite-type for­ma­tion (Chonko, New Idria)

A sep­a­rate group con­sists of plac­er deposits, as well as sec­ondary types where mer­cury is asso­ci­at­ed with coal seams, bitu­mens, and salt domes. A unique phe­nom­e­non is the for­ma­tion of cinnabar direct­ly in ther­mal springs (Kam­chat­ka, New Zealand, Cal­i­for­nia).

From a geo­t­ec­ton­ic per­spec­tive, mer­cury deposits are asso­ci­at­ed with mobile belts such as the Mediter­ranean, Pacif­ic, and Cen­tral Asian belts. The main ore-form­ing stages cor­re­spond to the late Her­cyn­ian, Meso­zoic (Triassic–Cretaceous), and Ceno­zoic eras. Old­er mer­cury deposits are rarely iden­ti­fied in the geo­log­i­cal record.

Field of use
Mer­cury has a wide range of appli­ca­tions across var­i­ous branch­es of indus­try, engi­neer­ing, and med­i­cine. It is used:
  • in the pro­duc­tion of ther­mome­ters, barom­e­ters, flu­o­res­cent mer­cury lamps, and oth­er mea­sur­ing instru­ments;
  • as a liq­uid cath­ode in the elec­trolyt­ic pro­duc­tion of caus­tic alka­lis and chlo­rine;
  • as a cat­a­lyst in the syn­the­sis of acetic acid;
  • in met­al­lur­gy for the amal­ga­ma­tion of gold and sil­ver;
  • in the form of ful­mi­nate of mer­cury as a det­o­na­tor in explo­sive devices;
  • cinnabar is used as a red pig­ment;
  • organ­ic mer­cury com­pounds are used in agri­cul­ture and in paints for marine ves­sels;
  • mer­cury-based phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals are used in the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try.

Due to the high tox­i­c­i­ty of mer­cury and its com­pounds, han­dling them requires extreme cau­tion and strict adher­ence to safe­ty reg­u­la­tions.

Indus­tri­al extrac­tion of mer­cury is car­ried out from mer­cury ores—natural min­er­al for­ma­tions con­tain­ing mer­cury in con­cen­tra­tions and forms that allow its effi­cient recov­ery. The prin­ci­pal ore min­er­al is cinnabar, while sec­ondary min­er­als include metacinnabar, native mer­cury, liv­ingstonite, corderoite, mcdonaldite, sul­fide com­plex­es of cop­per, anti­mo­ny, arsenic, and spha­lerite.

Depend­ing on mer­cury con­tent, ores are clas­si­fied as:

  • Very rich — more than 5–10% Hg,
  • Rich — around 1% Hg,
  • Medi­um-grade — 0.2–0.3% Hg,
  • Low-grade — 0.06–0.12% Hg,
  • Poor — 0.02–0.06% Hg.

Extrac­tion of mer­cury from monometal­lic ores is car­ried out by a pyromet­al­lur­gi­cal process, pri­mar­i­ly through direct volatiliza­tion in retort, shaft, or rotary fur­naces. Com­plex ores are first sub­ject­ed to ben­e­fi­ci­a­tion (grav­i­ty, flota­tion, or com­bined meth­ods) to pro­duce selec­tive or bulk con­cen­trates, which are then processed by pyromet­al­lur­gi­cal or hydromet­al­lur­gi­cal tech­niques. If the mer­cury con­tent in the raw mate­r­i­al is below 0.1%, its recov­ery is eco­nom­i­cal­ly fea­si­ble only when oth­er valu­able by-products—such as anti­mo­ny, tung­sten, or copper—can also be obtained. In addi­tion to ores, mer­cury may also be recov­ered as a by-prod­uct from coal, oil, nat­ur­al gas, and cement raw mate­ri­als.

Mercury deposits in Ukraine
Mer­cury ore deposits in Ukraine are con­cen­trat­ed with­in five met­al­lo­genic struc­tures:
  • Donets met­al­lo­genic province
  • Dnipro–Donets met­al­lo­genic region
  • East­ern Carpathi­an met­al­lo­genic region
  • Crimean mer­cury-bear­ing zone
  • Dobru­ja met­al­lo­genic region
The Donets province includes the Donets fold­ed struc­ture and the south­east­ern part of the Dnipro–Donets Depres­sion. Three mer­cury zones are dis­tin­guished here: the North­ern, South­ern, and Cen­tral Donets zones, with the Cen­tral Donets Zone being the most prospec­tive. It includes the Myky­tiv­ka, Druzhkivka–Kostiantynivka, and Slo­vian­sk ore fields. From a genet­ic (for­ma­tion) per­spec­tive, the ores are sub­di­vid­ed into:
  • Antimony–mercury for­ma­tion (with arsenic): quartz–dickite type, Mid­dle Car­bonif­er­ous,
  • Mer­cury for­ma­tion: quartz–carbonate and quartz–fluorite–carbonate types, Devon­ian and Upper Per­mi­an.
Myky­tiv­ka deposit

The Myky­tiv­ka deposit is the largest and most well-known mer­cury deposit in Ukraine. It is locat­ed with­in the Hor­liv­ka anti­cline. It was exploit­ed for more than 100 years (1885–1995). Dur­ing this peri­od, over 32 mil­lion tons of ore were mined, yield­ing approx­i­mate­ly 33.7 thou­sand tons of mer­cury. The deposit belongs to the telother­mal strat­i­form type of the antimony–mercury for­ma­tion. The main ore min­er­al is cinnabar (HgS), with an aver­age mer­cury con­tent of 0.094%. A pro­nounced ver­ti­cal zon­ing of alter­ation is observed, rep­re­sent­ed by a sequence of hydromi­ca­ceous, kaolinitic, quartz, and don­bassite alter­ation zones.

Oth­er mer­cury-bear­ing regions:
  • Dnipro–Donets region: the Dnipro–Donets region includes the Slo­vian­sk mercury–polymetallic deposit, where cinnabar–bitumen min­er­al­iza­tion occurs with­in fault zones.
  • East­ern Carpathi­an region (Zakarpat­tia): this region hosts vol­canic mer­cury deposits, includ­ing Borkut, Kami­anyi Kari­er, Hren­desh, and Monastyrske occur­rences. The total esti­mat­ed reserves are about 229 tons of mer­cury.
  • Crimean zone: mer­cury occur­rences are found with­in the fly­sch deposits of the Tau­ri­an series, often asso­ci­at­ed with mud vol­can­ism. These deposits have no indus­tri­al sig­nif­i­cance.
  • Dobru­ja region: this area is char­ac­ter­ized by unusu­al min­er­al assem­blages, includ­ing coc­ci­nite and mer­cury asso­ci­at­ed with native gold. Min­er­al­iza­tion occurs in dolomi­tized Devon­ian lime­stones.

Ukraine pos­sess­es a sub­stan­tial his­tor­i­cal and geo­log­i­cal base in the field of mer­cury ore resources. The main deposits locat­ed in Don­bas, Zakarpat­tia, the Dnipro–Donets region, Crimea, and Dobru­ja are char­ac­ter­ized by a wide vari­ety of ore-form­ing for­ma­tions, genet­ic types, and min­er­al com­po­si­tions. The Myky­tiv­ka deposit remains the most stud­ied and his­tor­i­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant, hav­ing once sup­plied mer­cury not only for domes­tic needs but also for export.

Despite the ces­sa­tion of indus­tri­al mer­cury min­ing in 1995, Ukraine’s mer­cury ore reserves remain sig­nif­i­cant. Geo­log­i­cal data on the struc­ture, min­er­al­iza­tion, and mor­phol­o­gy of these deposits retains sci­en­tif­ic and poten­tial applied val­ue. Fur­ther study of these sys­tems is impor­tant for assess­ing the country’s min­er­al resource poten­tial, as well as for envi­ron­men­tal safe­ty and geo­log­i­cal mon­i­tor­ing.

COMPLETE MINING SOLUTIONS. FROM IDEA TO PRODUCTION

1
GEO­LOG­I­CAL ANALY­SIS
2
OBTAIN­ING A SPE­CIAL PER­MIT
3
GEO­LOG­I­CAL STUDY PLAN
4
WELL DRILLING AND LAB­O­RA­TO­RY ANALY­SIS
5
TEST PILOT PRO­DUC­TION PLAN
6
TEST PILOT PRO­DUC­TION
7
RESERVES CAL­CU­LA­TION
8
FIELD DEVEL­OP­MENT PLAN
9
ENVI­RON­MEN­TAL IMPACT ASSESS­MENT
10
LAND ZON­ING PLAN
11
ANNU­AL PRO­DUC­TION PLAN
12
EXTRAC­TION