Uvarovite

specimen number:
8311499

location:
Saranovskii Mine, Gornozavodskii, Perm Krai, Russia

description:
Lustrous green crystals of uvarovite averaging 0.2 cm in size across the top of matrix. Typical of these slight contacting present, this one is in good condition, especially considering the overall size of the piece. Minor purple shuiskite is present as well.

The Saranovskii mine (specifically the Glavnoe Saranovskoe deposit), situated near the town of Sarany within the Gornozavodskii district of Perm Krai in the Middle Ural Mountains of Russia, is a historically significant underground and open-cast chromite operation famed for producing emerald-green crystals of the chromium-rich garnet variety known as uvarovite. Geologically, this major industrial deposit is hosted within a highly differentiated, Lower Paleozoic-age mafic-ultramafic intrusive complex that has been structurally tilted into a nearly vertical orientation, forming three massive, sub-parallel stratiform chromite ore bands embedded within serpentinized peridotites and dunites. The uvarovite crystals, often accompanied by purple chromium-bearing amesite and titanite, did not form during primary magmatic crystallization; instead, they precipitated during later, low-temperature hydrothermal metamorphic events where volatile-rich fluids circulated through tectonic fractures and joints, leaching chromium from the surrounding massive chromite blocks to grow lustrous, deep green dodecahedral garnet druses on fissured rock faces. Historically, the outcroppings were discovered in 1832, and the mineral uvarovite was officially described from this type locality the very same year, though large-scale industrial mining did not commence until 1889 under Count Shuvalov to supply the Russian metallurgical industry with refractory materials and ferrochrome. The facility was heavily modernized during the Soviet era with deep vertical shafts, running continuously through World War II and the late twentieth century to remain Russia's primary domestic source of industrial chromite ores. Through 2026, the Saranovskii mine remains actively operational under modern corporate ownership, utilizing deep underground extraction levels to produce thousands of tons of industrial chrome ore annually, while concurrently supplying the global mineralogical community with reference specimens of rich green uvarovite crusts.

Questions about this specimen?
Send an email or call us: 314-341-1811.