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Mineral Atlas of the World

Map sheet No 9: Europe and neighbouring countries
Distribution of compact disk with map, 1:10 000 000, and book with informative data
and references:

– In 1997 the mineral resources of Europe and neighbouring coun- For 'diplomatic' reasons, national borders were not marked on
tries were presented as a printed map and a book of exhaustive infor- the printed map, while in certain regions, like the former Soviet
mation and references. This was the first published map inventory of Union, the Balkans and the Middle East, the political entity 'country'
mineral deposits from all parts of the formerly politically divided has periodically not been fully appropriate. However, the map's sub-
Europe (East and West), measured and evaluated according to iden- division by country is strictly bound to the reported 'nationality' of
tical geological and mining standards. each individual mineral deposit ('country number').
– This year, 2003, the same material is published on compact disk Much of the information from the sphere of the former Soviet
(CD-ROM) — a data bank which may be continuously completed Union had been actively hidden since the 1920's. Geological infor-
and can serve as a framework for new databases for selected single mation, mining data and topography were in principle controlled by
or combined commodities. different governmental organisations, i.e. various ministries, univer-
(See also Introduction in the accompanying information book / sities, academies of sciences and others. Correspondingly, western
compact disk and footnote here*). countries had restrictions regarding access to strategic material as
The planning of the Mineral Atlas of the World at the scale minerals for the armed forces, space research and occasionally for
1:10,000,000 started in the mid-1980's. The world's superpowers and purely commercial reasons. However, after glasnost and the gradual
their respective allies were at that time still in their traditional East- erosion of the Iron Curtain, the word strategic has radically changed
West block position. its meaning.

March 2004
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Compilation for preparation of the map was mainly based on Price of the printed version: 37 Euro
individual contributions from central geological institutions in each Price of the digital version : 40 Euro
country, such as national geological surveys, universities and acade- Set of both versions: 50 Euro
mies of science. Certain mining companies were frequently con-
sulted. Among the contributors for the 55 countries, some thirty indi- To order the map:
viduals are mentioned on the map. The backbone of this large team
of contributors was the CGMW Sub-commission for Metallogenic Norges Geologiske Undersokelse (NGU)
Maps. Among CGMW delegates and officers there are no individual N-7491 TrondheimNorway
'national representatives', only skilled craftsmen within their respec- distribusjon@ngu.no
tive specialties, — probably a useful feature in the same sense as the www.ngu.no
lack of national borders on the printed maps. In order to maintain
continuity in the work and avoid too much formal bureaucracy, Commission for the Geological Map of the World (CGMW)
strong and steady contacts between single committee members took 77, rue Claude-Bernard 75005 Paris, France
place. Many of our contacts were also 'unofficial', and we profited ccgm@club-internet.fr
from networks of personal contacts developed by organisations like www.cgmw.org
IAGOD (International Association on the Genesis of Ore Deposits)
and IMA (International Mineralogical Association).
The geological background of this deposits map is relatively Gunnar Juve and Per Ryghaug
simple. It contains 784 mineral deposits whose main importance is of Oslo / Trondheim
former or current economic character. Many of them are today solely October 2003
of scientific or historic interest. For the sake of readability, indepen-
dently of all nationalities represented on the map, a common legend
has been elaborated and accepted here and for all the forthcoming *Milestones of the project:
map sheets of the Mineral Atlas. The deposit symbols used are thus 1987 — First international discussions during the CGMW ple-
of 'evocative' character, emulating the natural morphology of the nary Assembly at UNESCO's premises on a project for the Mineral
deposits, their modes of formation and their size. Atlas of the World; presentation of a global draft compiled at l'Ecole
The Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) has made a digital des Mines in Paris and published in Chronique de la Recherche
version of the metallogenic map combined with the mineral atlas Minière on the scale of 1:18 700 000 and agreement to proceed with
database tables on a CD with financial support from CGMW and the Europe and neighbouring countries sheet; using the legend pro-
UNESCO. posed by the Europeans.
The Mineral Atlas is published as an ESRI map file (pmf-file), 1990 — Support by UNESCO, the Soviet Union, USA and
which makes the atlas automatically accessible thanks to the many African and European countries of the Mineral Atlas as a high-
included ArcReader free software. This light version of a GIS soft- priority project for the CGMW.
wares gives the user the possibility to zoom in and out with access to 1994 — Manuscript map exhibited at CGMW General Assem-
different layers, identifying feature information and printing layouts. bly at UNESCO, Paris and approved for printing.
Base map data are obtained from the dataset Digital Map of the 1996 — Printed proof exhibited at the CGMW General Assem-
World from ESRI. This CD also contains all the necessary data sets bly during the 30th International geological Congress in Beijing,
to reconstruct the printed version of the map sheet by other GIS soft- China together with manuscripts of Mineral Atlas map sheets no. 10
ware, which read ArcInfo coverage, shapefiles and dxf-files. It also Eurasia and no. 12 Eastern Siberia. Design of Map sheet no. 9
gives geographical access to the Mineral Atlas database containing Europe approved as model for all map sheets of the atlas.
detailed table information of each deposit as previously published 1997 — Map sheet no. 9 printed in Trondheim, Norway. Man-
printed version of lists and mineral deposits. In addition an ESRI uscript of book with lists of various deposits information and litera-
ArcMap document file (mxd-file) is included for ESRI ArcGIS soft- ture references accomplished.
ware users. 1998–2000 — Map and copies of accompanying book (manu-
The target group of users of the Mineral Atlas of the World are script) exhibited and sold at international mineral resources meet-
variegated. Although we hope these maps will decorate the coming ings.
generation's classrooms, they are mainly meant for people with a 2000 — Revision of book with lists of deposits information and
professional approach to mineral resources and for students of geol- literature references.
ogy and mining. Specialists as well as amateurs in the right meaning 2003 — Release of a computerised map and information book
of the word are invited: economists, historians, archaeologists and as compact disk (CD-ROM).
certainly decision makers and politicians of all countries.

Episodes Vol. 27, no. 1