The economic importance of the Kizilda? ultramafic rocks, Kizildag, Akseki, SW Turkey

The ultramafic rocks around Kizildag have very important economic reserves of chromite and olivine. The ultramafic rocks are mainly composed of dunites and in lesser amount diabases. The dunites are mainly made of forsteritic olivine which is about 90% of the rock mass. The chemical composition of the rock is as follows: MgO 52.25%, SiO2 37.5% and Fe2O3 8.3%. These mineralogical and chemical characteristics are met the need of iron-steel and refractory industry. The olivine deposits of Kizildag with 9 billion (9,000,000,000) tons of reserve is one of the largest olivine resource in the world (The largest deposit is found in Aheim, Norway). The ultramafic rocks are also the host rocks for chromite deposits which can be counted as important. Between the years of 1990 and 2000, approximately 100,000 tons of chromite was exploited. After the year of 2000, economical disadvantages of the chromite mining in the region, the extraction of chromite were ended since the olivine mining was found much more profitable in the mass. The chromitiferous ore is in lentile shape in general and sometimes banded and disseminated. The grade of chromite ore is about 50.54% as Cr2O3. The chromites can be classified as Al-rich, ferrous chromite ore according to their chemical composition. The geological and chemical features of the chromites can be compared to the well known Alpine type chromite deposits. © 2006. International Scientific Conference SGEM.