Limestone is quite a valuable natural resource. The scope of use of limestone materials is quite wide. Of course, it is worth considering that, like all natural resources, it can be exhausted.

There are a lot of limestone deposits around the world, this rock is not rare, but depending on the methods of extraction and the technique used, it can be quite different in its structure.

As for Russia, the number of quarries for the extraction of limestone is quite a lot, they are available in almost every corner. The following regions are sufficiently known and made public: Voronezh, Leningrad, Tula, Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Vologda.

Of course, you should not forget about the deposits located in the Krasnodar Territory, in the Urals, in the Moscow region, as well as in some regions of Siberia.

In the Vologda region, a limestone deposit is under development, and the resources that are mined there are used for a lime plant located nearby.

The Slobodskoye field is less well-known, as it is located on the territory of a closed railway station.

The Novo-Pristanskoye field is located on the territory of the municipal Satka district. At the moment, limestone reserves are more than 8 thousand tons.

The most popular among enterprises that use limestone as the main raw material in their production are the Savinskoye and Shvakinskoye deposits. It is located in the Arkhangelsk region and includes the Shestovsky, Ogarkovsky and Levoberezhny sections.

The resources that are mined here are used in cement production. According to the balance sheet, limestone reserves are about 106,000 thousand tons. Of this volume, about 65,020 thousand tons are in the undistributed fund. The rest is in the process of preparation, development and technical preparation of the limestone mining project.

The Shvakinskoye field is located in the Arkhangelsk region, namely in the urban settlement of Obozer. This site consists of two territories - Left Bank and East. The left bank section is considered a reserve fund, i.e. no activities regarding the development of methods for the extraction of limestone are carried out here.

The eastern part is used quite intensively, and today the volume of production per year is 100 thousand tons per year. The limestone mined from this quarry is used for the cement industry.

Thus, we can say that Russia is a fairly rich country in terms of resource reserves.

You can meet such a rock in various parts of our vast world. Limestone is mined wherever there is at least one body of water with sea or river water.

Limestone is almost entirely composed of calcium, a durable and strong material. That is why it is so often used for facing various structures.

In Russia, limestone is mined in the Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, Voronezh and even in the Tula regions. Its deposits are also located in the Volga region, in the Urals and in the North Caucasus. As you can see, our country is rich in such high-quality and durable building materials. This is due to the presence of sea and river basins.

At all limestone deposit- a surface washed by water, in which there are various animal organisms. It is their remains that become components of limestone. Sometimes, upon close examination, one can meet shells of freshwater animals on the surface of the limestone layer.

Often people deliberately create conditions in order to artificially support the production of limestone. However, this is not necessary, as limestone layers constantly form on their own. They will disappear only when animal organisms cease to exist. And this is not expected in the next hundred years.

Limestone deposit in Russia are many cities. And even the Krasnodar Territory is no exception. In coastal areas, limestone is also mined, which is distinguished by a high degree of strength due to the rather dense living creatures that live in the Black Sea.

Limestone mining is a rather complicated procedure, which can only be performed by true professionals. Often a layer of limestone borders on a layer of sand or clay. However, there is a certain feature that contributes to the acceleration of the extraction process. Such are small cracks. It is they who help to break the layer into the necessary elements, which can later be used in the construction industry for lining various structures.

"Stone Facade" is engaged in the extraction and supply of Dagestan stone. You can purchase it from us under the order or choose from the range available.

Limestone. Where is applied. Mining method

Limestone-sedimentary rock of organic, less often chemogenic origin, consisting mainly of calcium carbonate in the form of calcite crystals of various sizes.

Limestone, consisting mainly of the shells of marine animals and their fragments, is called shell rock. In addition, there are nummulite, bryozoan and marble-like limestones - massively layered and thinly layered. During metamorphism, limestone recrystallizes and forms marble.

Calcium carbonate, which is part of limestone, is able to slowly dissolve in water, and also decompose into carbon dioxide and the corresponding bases. The first process is the most important factor in the formation of karst, the second, occurring at great depths under the influence of the deep heat of the Earth, provides a source of gas for mineral waters.

Application area

Limestone is most widely used as a building material. The strength of many varieties of limestone is sufficient for the construction of multi-storey buildings. Thin layers of wear-resistant stone - limestone flagstone - are a finished material, such limestone is used to line buildings and pave paths.

Facade cladding with limestone

Layered limestone with a pronounced weathering relief is valued by decorators, designers and landscape architects.

Manufacturers of natural stone products often successfully play with the biological origin of the rock. The shells of ancient mollusks, preserved in limestone deposits, become an important expressive element of finishing materials. Indispensable for any construction and cements - which, in turn, are made from a mixture of limestone and clay verified in percentage terms.

Marl - this is the name of the variety, which includes the right amount of aluminosilicates. It is mined in many regions of the world.

How limestone is mined

Limestone can be mined using an explosive method. To do this, you first need to open the deposits by removing the earth from them with the help of bulldozers. It is also necessary to remove clay and substandard limestone from them. Along the edge of the mining site, it is necessary to drill wells and put explosives there. If the explosions are properly organized, they will break off large layers of limestone, which later need to be loaded into dump trucks and taken to the processing site.

Next quarry. in which limestone has already been mined, it is necessary to fill it with earth and plant it with herbs and plants. This method can be used in large deposits, and as for small ones, there is no need to use an explosive method. In them, limestone must be removed in blocks that have the shape of rectangles. This is due to the fact that contour gaps are created.

Another method of extraction is performed by a milling machine. With this method, the rock is mechanically converted into crumb. Grinding, loading and transportation are carried out simultaneously.

The lowest costs for the extraction of rock are achieved by using an excavator and a hydraulic opener. An even more economical way is to use a mining machine, whose operating costs are 7% lower than mining with an excavator.

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Limestones are very popular today in the market of building and finishing materials. Despite the fact that this material is very fragile and capricious, it, processed in a special way, is used in interior and exterior decoration, as well as in the creation of waterproofing structures.

Limestone is a kind of sedimentary rock, the main component of which is calcium with a small proportion of various impurities of clay, silicon, and even the skeletons of microorganisms. In nature, as a rule, beige or slightly yellowish limestone is found, depending on the type of impurity prevailing in the rock, pink shades can be seen less often.

Limestone types

By its direct origin, limestone material is:
- organogenic, that is, formed due to the active connection together of a variety of organic residues,
- chemical, arising through the release of calcium from various solutions,
- clastic, formed by the concentration of fragments of the oldest limestone sedimentary rocks.

Typical limestone lies in whole layers in the basins of shallow marine, less often fresh water bodies, therefore the extraction of this most valuable rock is carried out in a simple, open way, that is, using crowbars and conventional excavators.

limestone types

Depending on the type of properties that nature has endowed the rock with, it is customary to distinguish marble, as well as porous and especially dense limestone. The former, as a rule, is used to create a variety of sculptures, it is a close relative of marble. Dense rocks are an excellent material for the production of finishing materials; it can be found on the outer cladding of the facades of many modern buildings and even in the Egyptian pyramids.

In our country, marked by harsh climatic conditions, special, frost-resistant rocks are used, which have been used in the construction of Orthodox churches since ancient times.

But porous limestones have their own internal division according to the degree of graininess inherent in them. Distinguish, as a rule, shell, oolitic and other porous materials. Shell rock is a purely decorative material, as you might guess, consisting of small shells, and it is this material that is usually called chalk.

Due to its special thermal insulation properties, strength, ease of processing and durability, limestone has become the basis for the creation of many building materials. It can be processed in any direction, it lends itself perfectly to cutting, splitting, sawing. The concrete and lime used to build the foundations of the building are also derivatives of ordinary limestone. Limestone is used in the food, petrochemical, leather, and even paint and varnish industries, limestone is an indispensable basis for many necessary mineral fertilizers, and is used to produce soda.

Metals are a certain type of chemical elements, their main difference from non-metals is their low resistance to electric current, due to the presence of free electrons. Also, metals lend themselves well to machining, as they have ductility. Metals are mined in different ways, but the principle of their production is based on their recovery from chemical compounds (oxides, sulfides, etc.).

• Furnace, magnetite, coke, limestone, red lead, aluminum, potassium permanganate, magnesium tape, crucible.

Prepare the mixture. Take a certain amount of magnetite (iron ore) and mix it with the same amount of coke. Then mix this mixture with limestone.

Next, melt the open furnace well and load the charge prepared in advance into it. The combustion temperature of coke in the furnace will not be enough, so it is necessary to force air into it (blow it). The higher the temperature of the supplied air, the more efficient the process will be, because heat is also spent on heating the air.

The iron restored from magnetite, as a heavier material, will sink down, and the slag will rise up. Magnetite is a mixture of iron oxides, and at a high temperature comparable to the melting point of iron itself and when interacting with carbon (coke), it will be reduced to iron. Limestone binds rock remains and forms slag.

Take minium iron (trivalent iron oxide) or some other iron oxide and mix it with aluminum shavings. Then, place this mixture in the crucible and tamp down thoroughly.

After that, prepare an incendiary mixture. Take some potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) and mix it with aluminum powder (silver), you can use magnesium powder.

Next, make a small indentation in a mixture of red lead and aluminum and pour incendiary composition into it. Then, place the crucible in a vessel filled with sand, place a magnesium strip in the incendiary composition and set fire to it, keeping a respectful distance.

After the reaction, which will be accompanied by a flash and the release of a huge amount of heat, pour the contents of the crucible onto a flat surface and use a magnet to collect the resulting iron.

Keep fire extinguishers ready.

Use safety goggles and gloves.

Platinum in mineralogy refers to native metals. So it was called by the Spanish conquistadors for its resemblance to silver. Insofar as platinum it was almost impossible to process, it was not valued and was cheaper than silver. Therefore, it was nicknamed "silver", this is how the name of this metal is translated from Spanish.

• native platinum, "aqua regia" or its components - hydrochloric and nitric acid, ammonium chloride

Collect native platinum. It is found in gold mines. In Russia, it is mined at sulfide-copper-nickel deposits. Most often, individual grains of platinum are found. Small crystals will do. They also find nuggets that reach several kilograms. Native platinum includes minerals containing iridium, iron, palladium, osmium, rhodium, sometimes copper, nickel and gold. The most common of these is polyxene metal.

Make a solution of "royal vodka". Mix hydrochloric and nitric acid in a ratio of 1:3.6. At the time of preparation, the liquid has no color, but after a few seconds it turns yellow, and then orange. It smells like chlorine and nitrogen oxides and has a strong oxidizing power.

Dip in "royal vodka" native platinum and stir with a glass rod until completely dissolved. The result is chloroplatinic acid H2PtCl6.

Add ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) to the solution. In this case, a precipitate will fall to the bottom - ammonium chloroplatinate (NH4) 2. It was this method that was proposed in 1826 by the engineers Sobolevsky and Lyubarsky.

Wash the resulting precipitate and calcinate in air at 800-1000 °C. In this case, the process of evolution of nitrogen, ammonia, chlorine and platinum occurs: 3(NH4)2 = 2N2 + 2NH3 + 18HCl + 3Pt. Gases escape, and you get the so-called "sponge". It can be pressed, annealed and forged.

Clear the received platinum. Dissolve it again in "aqua regia", precipitate ammonium chloroplatinate and ignite the residue. After that, you can clean platinum smelt into ingots.

Establish a cheaper way to get pure platinum at high production volumes. Use the method of the French scientists Saint-Clair Deville and Debre for this. Build a limestone-lined oven with a built-in hydrogen burner and oxygen supply at the top. When spongy platinum is calcined, all impurities - iron, copper, silicon and others - will pass into fusible slags and will be absorbed into the porous walls of the furnace. And pure platinum will pour out through a special chute into the mold for the ingot.

When platinum solutions are reduced by a chemical or electrochemical method, finely dispersed platinum - platinum black is obtained.

Due to its porous structure, limestone has been used in construction since ancient times. Temples and palaces, houses and estates were built from it. For decoration, a snow-white or pinkish type of stone was used. In general, limestone is a fairly soft rock. Therefore, limestone finishing elements are widely used today.

How limestone is mined

A detailed production report from the Sokolsko-Sitovskoye flux limestone quarry, located a couple of kilometers northeast of Lipetsk. Under the cut are large excavators, BelAZ trucks, a factory, conveyors, an explosion and much more…

1. Some official data: The quarry is being developed by Studenovskaya Joint-Stock Mining Company, currently a member of the NLMK Group and one of the Russian leaders in the production of flux limestone, used mainly in the metallurgical industry and construction.

2. Mining volumes account for more than 15% of the mined flux limestone in Russia.

3. The dimensions of the quarry are impressive: 1500x500 meters, and the depth is 50 meters. Here you can easily build more than 10 football fields or lay a track for Formula 1 ...

4. According to geologists, the reserves of raw materials in the quarry at the current capacity will be enough for at least 30 years of operation.

5. Limestone is a widespread sedimentary rock formed with the participation of living organisms in marine basins. Once upon a time, approximately 350-370 million years ago, in the Devonian period of the Paleozoic era, the Lipetsk region, like many regions of the central part of Russia, was a sea. Often in the fragments of the rock you can find fossil remains of the ancient life of those years ...

6. The deposit is developed by an open method. The technological process of mining can be divided into the following main types of work:
Stripping works
mining operations
Dumping and mining reclamation
Transport work
Mineral processing

7. Overburden works.
First, with the help of a bulldozer or a loader, the top fertile layer of soil is removed - black soil, and stored for subsequent reclamation of lands disturbed by mining. This is followed by a clay layer with a thickness of about 20 meters, which is worked out by electric excavators with a bucket capacity of 8-10 cubic meters. Overburden works also include partial sampling of substandard (poor quality) limestone, which is located directly under the clay layer.

8. This photo clearly shows a section of the “quarry pie”: a layer of clay, a layer of substandard limestone and an even ledge of a mineral. The crumbling hill of limestone under the ledge is a consequence of the explosion. It is precisely these “consequences of the cry” that are loaded into BelAZ trucks and taken to the factory. And all overburden rocks are taken to the internal dump.

9. Mining work.
It is customary for miners to say production, with an emphasis on the first syllable. Limestone mining itself is preceded by drilling and blasting - the most spectacular part of the whole process.

10. A hard layer of limestone, which cannot be scooped up with an excavator bucket, has to be drilled, explosive materials are placed in it and blown up. For drilling, drilling rigs of the SBR type, powered by electricity, are used.

11. Drilling rigs are serious, they drill holes with a diameter of 16 cm to a depth of up to 24 meters (7 floors). It takes 50 minutes to drill one well. A string of wells, elongated in a line, is drilled one by one 5 meters from the edge of the cliff.

12. Brave driller!

13. For the explosion, industrial and conversion explosives are used, the acquisition of which requires a whole bunch of various permits and licenses, as well as special vehicles for transportation and armed guards. You can’t just buy gunpowder at the market ...

14. TNT checkers serve as a detonator.

15. On average, about 30 wells are drilled to carry out one explosion, where a total of 5-6 tons of explosives are laid.

16. To connect all the wells with explosives into a single circuit, a detonating cord is used.

17. An explosion is a very responsible matter! The quarry is completely cordoned off, guards are posted in the area of ​​​​the future explosion. All equipment is taken to a safe distance, and BelAZ vehicles generally leave the quarry. Before the explosion, all cordon posts are polled by radio and the situation is clarified. If everything is fine, permission is given to carry out blasting. (The guard post and the transformer box are also being taken away).

18. The wells are not blown up simultaneously, but with a delay of several hundredths of a second, otherwise there will be an earthquake, and most of the buildings in Lipetsk will have windows blown out.

19. For a sense of scale - on the right side of the frame there is an excavator the size of a 4-story building ... Small pieces of rock can fly away to a distance comparable to the height of the main building of Moscow State University - 250 meters.

20. It can be seen how heavy pieces of hard rock are separated from the ledge in even rows and fall down.

21. The whole explosion passes in a few seconds and is well heard in the city. This is what collapsed rock looks like. After the smoke clears and the dust settles, the explosives will check for failed charges, after which the excavators and BelAZ trucks will go about their work.

22. The rock is loaded into BelAZ using a mechanical shovel (that is, an excavator), or rather, using a self-propelled full-turn excavation and loading machine. This monster runs on 6000 volt electricity, the photo shows a high-voltage cable that powers the excavator's engines. During a day of operation, the machine consumes as much energy as an ordinary nine-story residential building in a week.

23. At one time, the excavator can load 10 ordinary photographers, or 20 Chinese photographers.

25. The weight of such a bucket is 16 tons.

26. Each excavator employs two people to ensure the continuity of the production process.

27. In total, 6 large excavators (bucket with a volume of 8 and 10 cubic meters) and 2 smaller ones with a bucket volume of about 5 cubic meters work in the quarry.

28. Sometimes appliances break down. For example, the main gear of this excavator has failed and it is being repaired right in the quarry. The diameter of limply hanging steel ropes is 4 cm.

29. And this is a now decommissioned veteran who honestly gave the enterprise about 40 years. Despite his considerable age and shabby appearance, grandfather, in case of emergency, can be taken to work in a quarry.

30. Dumping and mining reclamation.
At a constant depth, the quarry bowl constantly moves in the direction along which the limestone occurs. On one side of the quarry, overburden is removed and limestone is mined, on the other, the mined-out space is filled with overburden, limestone crushing screenings and black soil.

32. Screenings are brought from the crushing and processing plant in dump cars, which are formed after limestone crushing and are not suitable for use. The excavator dumps everything on the dump, filling the mined-out space of the quarry. Then the dumps will be covered with previously opened soil and top with black soil.

33. This mechanical shovel is smaller - with a bucket for 5 cubes.

34. Next, plowing of the land is carried out and biological reclamation is carried out - the sowing of land with useful plants. In a few years, the recultivated lands can be used again for agricultural purposes. Previously, the quarry started right from the landings (on the right in the frame) and has shifted 600 meters in 20 years. Now there is a field. In the future, the quarry may advance another 2.7 kilometers.

35. Transport work.
Every day, 12 BelAZ trucks operate on the line in the quarry, which ensure the transportation of overburden rock to dumps, and the mined limestone to the DOF - to the crushing and processing plant.

36. Belazists work around the clock in three shifts, eight hours each. During the day, BelAZ makes up to 100 walkers, and transports up to 16 thousand tons of mined limestone. In three months, the car runs the distance from Moscow to Vladivostok.

37. The carrying capacity of such a BelAZ is 55 tons, more than its own weight. BelAZ trucks with a higher carrying capacity in this quarry are not advisable to use for several reasons: the depth of the quarry, the distance of transportation, the volume of production, and so on. This baby mammoth is powered by a 700 hp diesel engine.

38. If during transportation from BelAZ something falls out onto the road, such as a large stone, a special wheeled bulldozer will remove it back to the face, to the excavator.

39. They actively fight dust in the quarry, the roads are constantly doused with a special watering can. And in winter, watering is replaced by sprinkling with a sand-salt mixture.

40. To take this shot, I had to ask the driver on the radio (each piece of equipment in the quarry is equipped with a radio station) to drive outside the watered road. The permissible speed in the quarry is 20 km/h.

41. The quarry has 14 km of technological roads built in bulk, there are also electrification and substations to power excavators. The roads are excellent, you can easily move on them by car.

42. Shop for the repair and maintenance of BelAZ.

44. The body and engine were removed from this BelAZ.

45. The mined mineral is brought to the DOF and unloaded into the receiving bunker, before that the dump truck is weighed and by simply subtracting the weight of the empty BelAZ, the weight of the cargo is obtained.

46. ​​Receiving hopper.

47. Mineral processing.
This is the first building of the factory - the building of coarse crushing. Here, the jaw crusher rough crushes large pieces of rock. Fractions up to 10 cm in size are obtained.

49. Approximately 15,000 tons of rock are transported on a conveyor belt per day.

50. Cone crusher performs medium crushing.

51. Cunning system of vibrating screens. In closed devices, the products are divided into fractions (according to the size of the stones) and distributed along the conveyors.

52. An ordinary five-story house can easily fit in the workshop ...

53. Quite small limestone - screenings up to 1 cm are sent for unloading into dump cars for subsequent transportation to the quarry dump.

54. Corps of sorting and loading. The finished product is delivered here, where it is loaded into railway wagons. The main consumer of the products is the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works.

56. One car includes 69 tons of crushed stone.

58. Loading into vehicles is taking place nearby.

59. Work in a quarry does not stop at night. For this, backlighting works on excavators.

62. The 55-ton BelAZ trucks used in the quarry are relatively small, and by miners' standards, they are just babies. Someday I will definitely look at the work of 320-ton trucks!

63. Night quarry and factory are beautiful!

Separately, I want to say about the people with whom I worked for two shooting days. Open, kind, cheerful miners, happy to talk about their work and equipment. Real men!
Thanks to all employees of Stagdok OJSC, who participated in organizing the shooting!

All the buildings of Malta are made of limestone. This state is located on the islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Limestone is formed precisely in the seas, so the country's lands are rich in it. The basis of the breed is the remains of shells of mollusks, algae and other inhabitants of salt waters.

Under their pressure, the particles are cemented. They are also held together by sea solutions that seep through the bottom, for example, gas flows that carry many minerals and elements.

Physical and chemical properties of limestone

The skeletons of the inhabitants of the seas, the shells that form the basis of limestone, consist of. In this regard, the limestone itself is close to it according to the chemical formula. CaO in the rock is about 60 percent.

The rest of the mass is CO 2 and minor impurities. Depending on them, the breed is divided into subspecies. Oxide is present in dolomitic limestones.

In marly limestones, oxide is mixed. , , is a distinctive feature of the sandy rock. Mergeliy is called limestone with a solid impurity.

Physical properties depend on the chemical formula. Bulk impurities make limestone strong and dense. The maximum density is 3,000 kilograms per cubic meter. The minimum figure is 2,500 kilograms per cubic meter.

Porous particles of organics, skeletons in limestone are porous, so the rock is unstable to moisture. limestone stone quickly absorbs water, while becoming fragile, fragile. The frost resistance of limestone also depends on the composition.

Impurities of quartz and other minerals give a crystalline structure and resistance to negative temperatures. The rock, in which there are few minerals and many, for example, shells, is less frost-resistant and its structure is granular or detrital.

Limestone is quite soft. Insufficient hardness also has advantages. The stone is easily processed. buy limestone tend to carve bas-reliefs, ornaments and other three-dimensional compositions.

Color and color of limestone

white limestone, a stone of all shades of gray and yellow are standard options. Impurities of manganese give brown and reddish reflections in the rock. Organic remains, such as algae, sometimes result in a greenish color to the limestone, as well as a range of brown tones. Black limestone is rare.

limestone deposits

In Russia, most of the rock deposits are concentrated in the west of the country. Once, this territory was covered by the seas, and they left a limestone trail. Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Voronezh, Tula - these are the regions where limestone mining.

Quarries are also being developed in the Belgorod, Leningrad, Vologda regions and in the Krasnodar Territory. In Siberia, the deposits are piece. The same can be said about the Urals.

There is no deficit in limestone outside of Russia either. The breed is widespread. Its deposits are found in almost all corners of the world. In the Alps, for example, most of the mountain ranges are made of limestone. This, again, serves as evidence that the Alps were once part of the seabed.

Application of limestone

Limestone buildings are a landmark not only in Malta. Although not in such quantities, there are buildings made of sedimentary rock in other states. So, in Russia, many churches were built from limestone, for example, the Trinity Cathedral and the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin in Moscow, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl.

Not only wall blocks are made of limestone, but slabs for cladding, paving floors and sidewalks. The rock goes to the foundations of buildings. The stone is crushed and added to the road surface. True, it is used only on the tracks of the second category. So called roads for special needs, not subjected to constant loads.

Limestone water filters are built into hydraulic structures. For this, a porous rather than a crystalline structure is used. In addition, rock is a component of concrete.

Limestone is needed in the glass industry. Here, rock with a predominance of calcium oxide is used. It should be at least 53 percent. Calcite - mineral, limestone the same is a rock, that is, a composition of many minerals. Limestone is called a monomineral rock. This means that there is always more calcite in it than other elements, but this does not mean that it is the only one.

Healing and magical properties of limestone

Do no harm. This doctor's motto also applies to limestone. Natural material, unlike artificial plastic, for example, does not cause allergies. In addition, limestone is an antiseptic.

The stone blocks the reproduction of pathogens. Perhaps that is why lithotherapists claim that limestone facilitates the course of many diseases. However, those who, in order to get it, go to quarry, limestone does not evoke such associations.

Workers inhale rock dust in large volumes, which negatively affects their well-being. Of course, in ordinary life, inhaling limestone in such volumes is rare. Previously, this was done when the premises were whitewashed.

The magical properties of limestone are the same as those of its base - calcite. This mineral has the ability to attract, bind people to its owner. This is often used by women in pursuit of a loved one.

Esotericists say that wearing calcite makes people able to predict, to predict the exact consequences of their actions. Minimum sign restrictions. Limestone negatively affects only.

Limestone, a natural stone composed mainly of organic calcite, is used to make cement, lime, facing blocks, soda, fertilizer, livestock feed, paper, sugar, glass, soap and more. Unlike marble and granite, the deposits of which can be found in the Articles section, limestone is found on almost all continents of the globe. Methods for obtaining this breed have their own specifics.

Extraction methods

Basically, limestone is obtained in open pits. To do this, first remove the top layer of earth and clay and create a cut. Here, the rock is crushed and loaded, which is subsequently taken out on special vehicles.

To date, most often explosive technology is used to get limestone. As a result, the rock crumbles heavily, then this mass is removed by an excavator and loaded for transportation to the processing site. If rather large pieces remained during the explosion, then overhead charges or special mounted butoboys are used to grind them.

More "sparing" methods consist in loosening the rock without explosions. For this, heavy equipment is used, equipped with a mechanical or hydraulic quick-release device. The driver of such an excavator can change the bucket for a baking powder in a matter of minutes and paint the rock. Such machines are able to cope with both soft limestone and hard limestone.

Another method of rock mining is carried out with the help of a milling combine. The machine crushes and loads the limestone at the same time, without delaying its removal.

When erecting buildings, satisfied large slabs are usually required. For their extraction, along with excavators, stone-cutting machines are additionally used. You can also get large fragments with the help of properly organized explosions, but in this case, the blocks may be uneven. To process them, you will need a special grinding tool, and chemical novelties - cleaners, impregnations, dyes - will make the material aesthetically attractive.

According to experts, non-explosive methods of limestone extraction are the least expensive.

Such a rock as limestone is widely used for the production of construction and finishing works. It is characterized by sufficiently high strength, durability, very good aesthetic characteristics. A lot of limestone deposits have been found both in our country and abroad, and many of them are actively mining this magnificent natural stone. For this, the following main methods are used:

• Explosive;
• excavator;
• Combine.

Each of them has its own specifics, advantages and disadvantages.

Explosive limestone mining

This method of limestone extraction is the simplest, least expensive and therefore more common than others. It consists in the fact that explosives are laid in a rock layer in certain places, and as a result of the explosion, many fragments are formed, having a wide variety of sizes: from huge boulders to small crumbs. They are transported from the quarry to specialized enterprises where they are sorted and processed.

Limestone mining with excavators

This method is more "sparing" than explosive. It consists in the fact that specialized equipment is hung on heavy excavators working in limestone quarries, which is designed to quickly loosen the rock. There are several designs of such units, they can have both hydraulic and mechanical drives. It should be noted that these units are arranged in such a way that their replacement takes a matter of seconds: the baking powder quickly changes to a bucket, with which the extracted rock is loaded into a dump truck, then installed back. The use of this mining method allows for partial sorting of limestone into fractions already directly in the quarry.

Limestone mining with milling machines

This method of limestone extraction consists in the fact that a special milling combine crushes the stone into fractions of a certain size directly in the quarry. This method is very effective from an economic point of view, since there is no need to carry out additional stone processing at a specialized enterprise. It is estimated that the total cost of limestone mining with milling machines is about 10% lower than with excavators with attachments.

Limestone is a natural stone of soft sedimentary rock, which has an organic or organo-chemical origin. The main constituent of limestone is calcium carbonate (calcite). In addition, limestone may also contain impurities of quartz, phosphate, silicon, clay and sand particles, calcareous remains of skeletons of microorganisms.

limestone formations

Limestone is formed mainly in marine shallow basins. However, there are cases when natural limestone was formed outside of the usual conditions - in a freshwater environment. Stone deposits are deposits and layers. Lime deposits are sometimes formed in the same way as salt and gypsum deposits - as a result of the evaporation of water from sea lagoons and lakes. But, despite this, the main localization of limestone deposits is in the seas, which are not characterized by intense drying.

The origin of limestone is mainly associated with the release of calcium carbonate by living organisms from sea water, which is necessary for the formation of skeletons and shells. The accumulation of these remains of dead organisms mainly occurs at the bottom of the seas. Coral reefs are one of the clearest examples of how calcite is extracted and accumulated. Sometimes, if you break the limestone rock, you can see the presence of individual shells. Sea currents and sea waves have a destructive effect on reefs, as a result of which calcium carbonate is precipitated from the water at the bottom of the seas, which is added to lime debris. In addition, young limestone rocks are formed with the participation of calcite, which comes as a result of the destruction of ancient rocks.

Calcium carbonate, which is part of the rock, is able to dissolve in water, resulting in the formation of karst. There are also cases of its decomposition into a base and carbon dioxide. However, this requires proper conditions, therefore, calcium carbonate decomposes only at great depths, as a result of which, under the influence of the heat of the earth, gas is released for mineral waters.

Depending on the conditions of formation, limestone is divided into types. The most common is the shell rock. Fragments and many shells of marine animals participate in its formation. However, in addition to this type, there are others, among which are:

• Mshankovy limestone. Its main components are the remains of bryozoans, i.e. invertebrates that are quite small in size and live in colonies in the seas.
• Nummulitic limestone. The composition of this type of stone includes extinct unicellular organisms of nummulites, which belong to the order of foraminifers.
• Marble limestone. This type is subdivided into two subtypes: thin-layered and massively layered. It is no secret that metamorphism causes limestone to recrystallize, resulting in the formation of marble.

Thus, it is worth saying that limestone is a monomineral rock that has in its composition, in addition to the main component, a wide variety of impurities. The name of limestone, as a rule, depends on the type of these impurities, as well as the structure, their geological age and the nature of occurrence: oolitic limestones, ferruginous limestones, limestone limestones, Triassic limestones, etc.

Natural limestone is characterized by a light gray color, but, despite this, it can also be black or white. The existence of limestone with a bluish, pink or yellow tint is acceptable, depending on the impurities that are in the composition of the stone.

limestone deposits

There is no shortage of limestone in the world, since it belongs to fairly common sedimentary rocks formed with the participation of living organisms in the aquatic environment.

Whole alpine chains are formed from limestones. Limestones also took part in the formation of the Crimean mountains. However, these are not the only places in the world where the stone is found. Its deposits are known on the territory of the former USSR (Central Economic Region), on the territory of the North Caucasus, the Volga region, the Baltic states, the Moldavian SSR, and the Azerbaijan SSR. Among the main lime deposits are:

• Afanasievskoye field, located in the Moscow region. It is the main source of extraction of white limestone, which is used in the production of cement;
• Barsukovskoye field, which is located on the territory of the Tula region. Flux limestone is mined from it;
• Guryevskoe (Venevskoe) field. It is also located in the Tula region and is a source of dense limestone mining, from which crushed stone is produced;
• Oknitskoye deposit (Moldavian SSR). It contains shell-oolitic limestone used in the process of forming saw wall blocks;
• Badraksko-Alma deposit. Located in the Crimea. It was there that deposits of white shell saw limestone were discovered, which is the main material for the production of facing and wall materials;
• Shakhtakhtinskoe field (Azerbaijan SSR). It is a deposit of grayish-yellow and light brown sawn cavernous travertine limestone, from which facing slabs are produced;
• The Zhetybai deposit, located on the Mangishlak peninsula, contains deposits of pink, light gray, gray-yellow porous shell saw limestone, which is also used for the production of facing slabs.

limestone mining

When extracting limestone, several methods are used to extract it from the bowels of the earth. These methods include:

• open career path. Considered the most common. With this method, the upper soil layer is removed and a quarry is formed, in which pyrotechnic works can be carried out, by which portions of limestone are crushed and detached. The next stage of this method is to transport the stone to the places of its processing. For this process, mining vehicles are used.
• explosive way. In this case, the deposits are opened by removing the earth from them with bulldozers. After that, clay and substandard limestones are also removed from them. In such places where limestone is mined, wells are formed into which explosives are laid. With the correct organization of this process, rather large limestone layers are broken off, which are taken out by dump trucks for further processing.
• mining with a milling machine. This method mechanically converts the rock into crumbs. Thus, several processes are carried out simultaneously - grinding, loading and transportation.

It is worth noting that after the extraction of limestone, the quarry should be covered with earth, as well as planted with herbs and plants. Usually these actions are carried out in places of large deposits. In small deposits, limestone is mainly mined using an explosive method. From such deposits, the extraction of stone is carried out in the form of blocks having a rectangular shape. This is due to the creation of contour gaps.

It should be noted that each of the methods is more or less economically costly. However, one of the cheapest options is stone mining with an excavator and a hydraulic ripper. But there is the most economical way, which is to use a mining machine. This method is about 7% cheaper than the previous one.