Deposits of minerals Chechen Republic. Geographical position and natural resources of the Chechen Republic Ready-made works on a similar topic
The Chechen Republic (CR) borders Ingushetia in the west, North Ossetia in the northwest, Dagestan in the east, and Dagestan in the north. Stavropol Territory. In the south is the external state border with Georgia. The territory of the republic stretches from north to south for 170 km, and from west to east - for almost 100 km. The distance from Grozny to Moscow is 2007 km.
There is no officially demarcated border between the Chechen Republic and the Republic of Ingushetia. After the separation of Chechnya from the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, the unilateral declaration of its independence, and up to the present time, the delimitation of borders has not been carried out. In 1992, an agreement was reached between the two republics that the "conditionally" border between Chechnya and Ingushetia runs along the administrative borders of the regions of the former CHIASSR. At the same time, 3 districts (about 17% of the territory) passed to Ingushetia, and 11 districts (83% of the territory) of the former autonomous republic, which had an area of 19.3 thousand square meters, went to Chechnya. km. Part of the Malgobek and Sunzhensky districts is a disputed territory, which both Chechens and Ingush consider to be their original lands. That is why there are still discrepancies in determining the area of territories of both the Chechen Republic (from 15.5 to 17 thousand square kilometers) and the Republic of Ingushetia.
According to the relief, the Chechen Republic is divided into flat northern and mountainous southern parts. The mountainous part of Chechnya - the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Range, they occupy 35% of the territory. The remaining 65% of the area is cultivated plains, steppes and semi-deserts: the Chechen plain and the Tersko-Kuma lowland. The Chechen plain in its natural state is a steppe with small forest-steppe areas. Most of it is plowed up and used in agriculture, because the soils here are fertile, black earth, less often - chestnut and light chestnut. The Tersko-Kuma lowland is mainly a semi-desert area with wormwood-saltwort vegetation, and in wet areas it is occupied by feather grass-fescue steppe. The vegetation of the mountains varies depending on the height: up to 2200 m there are broad-leaved forests with valuable tree species - beech, oak, hornbeam, higher - subalpine and alpine meadows. There are many comfortable pastures for livestock in the mountain valleys. The climate is continental, with average January temperatures from -3 to -5 "C in the plains to -12" C in the mountains, and in July, respectively, from +21 to +25 "C. Large rivers are the Terek and Sunzha with the Argun tributary with large reserves of hydropower.
In general, natural and climatic conditions are favorable for the life of the population. The climate of the mountainous territories has therapeutic and balneological properties. Ecological situation until the mid-1990s. remained moderately acute and was associated mainly with water and soil pollution, as well as soil erosion. At present, the ecological state of the region is extremely unfavorable: the consequences of military operations, as well as the work of handicraft mini-factories for oil distillation, are affecting. The air and waters are heavily poisoned by oil products.
The region is characterized by high seismicity, earthquakes with an intensity of up to 9 points are possible here.
The main minerals are oil, gas, natural building materials, thermal and mineral waters.
The main natural resource is oil. Chechnya, like Ingushetia and the adjacent territories of the North Caucasus, is one of the oldest oil and gas regions in Russia. The main oil fields are concentrated around the city of Grozny and the settlement of Novogroznensky. Industrial oil reserves in the Chechen Republic amount to 50-60 million tons, and they are largely exhausted. The total explored reserves exceed 370 million tons, but they lie in extremely unfavorable geological conditions at a depth of 4.5-5 km and are difficult to develop. At present, this is beyond the power of the Chechen Republic, since neither drilling nor field equipment is produced in the republic, and there are not enough specialists in the field of oil production.
The former production association "Grozneft" was developing 24 oil and gas fields, the reserves of which belonged to industrial categories (as of January 1, 1993). 90% of the initial recoverable oil reserves have been pumped out. The Oktyabrskoye, Goryacheistochnenskoye, Starogroznenskoye, Pravoberezhnoye, Bragunskoye, Severo-Bragunskoye and Eldarovskoye fields were considered the largest in terms of residual reserves - they provided 4/5 of the total oil production. In 1998 Chechnya produced 846,000 tons of oil, including gas condensate.
The republic's own energy resources are clearly insufficient. Electricity shortage - approximately 40% of the need - Chechnya in the early 90s. covered with deliveries from other regions of Russia through the RAO UES system. In 1997, the Czech Republic received up to 60% of the electricity consumed from outside.
In Chechnya, there are quite large reserves of hydropower resources of mountain rivers, but their use has not been established. Experts highly appreciate the potential of geothermal waters: on the basis of the Petropavlovsk and Khankal deposits, back in the 80s. it was planned to build three geothermal circular systems for heating Grozny, but these projects were never implemented.
The conditions for agriculture are favorable: soil fertility, abundance of heat, large areas of natural meadow pastures - all this contributes to the development of both lowland agriculture and animal husbandry on mountain pastures. According to the republican Ministry of Agriculture, the maximum area of arable land in the republic reached in the early 90s. 300-330 thousand hectares, 517 thousand hectares were allocated for pastures, more than 20 thousand hectares for collective orchards and vineyards. According to the Ministry of Economy of Chechnya, in 1997 the total area of agricultural land in the republic was over 1 million hectares, of which 34% (340-350 thousand hectares) is arable land, it seems that pre-war data on the size of arable land are somewhat exceeded.
The Chechen Republic is located in the central part of the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus (height up to 4493 m, Tebulosmta), adjacent to the Chechen plain and the Terek-Kuma lowland.
The length of the territory from north to south is 170 km, from west to east - 110 km.
It borders: in the south - with the Republic of Georgia, in the southeast, east and northeast - with the Republic of Dagestan, in the northwest - with the Stavropol Territory, in the west - with the Ingush Republic.
According to the relief, the territory of the republic is divided into flat northern (2/3 of the area) and mountainous southern (1/3 of the area). The south of the Chechen Republic is made up of the foothills and slopes of the Greater Caucasus Range, the northern part is occupied by the plain and the Terek-Kuma lowland. The hydrographic network of the republic belongs to the basin of the Caspian Sea. The main river of the republic, crossing it from west to east, is the Terek River. The rivers on the territory of the Chechen Republic are unevenly distributed. The mountainous part and the adjacent Chechen plain have a dense, highly branched river network. But there are no rivers on the Terek-Sunzhsnskaya Upland and in the areas located north of the Terek. This is due to the features of the relief, climatic conditions and, above all, the distribution of precipitation. According to the water regime, the rivers of the Chechen Republic can be divided into two types. The first includes rivers, in which glaciers and high mountain snows play an important role. These are Terek, Sunzha (below the confluence of Lesa), Assa and Argun. AT summer period when snows and glaciers melt vigorously high in the mountains, they overflow. The second type includes rivers originating from springs and devoid of glacial and high-mountain snow supply. This group includes Sunzha (before the confluence of Assy), Valerik, Gekhi, Martan, Goita, Dzhalka, Belka, Aksai, Yaryk-Su and others, less significant. They don't have floods in summer.
Minerals of the Chechen Republic include fuel and energy resources, such as: oil, gas, condensate, common minerals are represented by: deposits of brick raw materials, clays, building sands, sand and gravel mixtures, building stones, reserves of cement marls, limestones, dolomites, gypsum . The republic is also rich in hydropower resources, primarily the river. Argun, b. Assa and others (explored resources are 2000 MW) and heat and power resources located on the plains.
The main role in the development of the Republic in the near future will belong to the fuel and energy complex. The main wealth of the subsoil of the Chechen Republic is oil and gas, the explored reserves of which, respectively, are estimated as of 2005 at 40 million tons and gas at 14.5 billion cubic meters.
The Chechen Republic is a tiny region in the southwestern part of Russia. In terms of its area, Chechnya occupies less than 0.1% of the country's territory. What is interesting about this region? What does it produce? How many cities are there within Chechnya? Our article will tell about all this.
Chechnya: area and geographical location
The republic is part of the North Caucasian Federal District. It is located within the Caucasian mountainous country. The total area of Chechnya is 15.6 thousand square kilometers (76th place in the list of subjects of the Russian Federation). About 30% of its territory is occupied by mountain ranges and intermountain basins.
The capital of Chechnya is the city of Grozny. It is located in the geometric center of the republic. The head is Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov (since 2007).
The climate of Chechnya is continental and very diverse. Differences in the amount of atmospheric precipitation are especially striking: in the north of the republic they fall no more than 300 mm, and in the south - about 1000 mm. There are quite a lot of lakes and rivers in Chechnya (the largest of them are Terek, Argun, Sunzha and Gekhi).
Despite its small area, Chechnya is distinguished by an extraordinary variety of topography and landscapes. In physical and geographical terms, the republic can be divided into four zones: flat (in the north), foothills (in the center), mountainous and high-mountainous (in the south).
The main resource of Chechnya
The main natural resource of the republic is oil. Together with neighboring Ingushetia, Chechnya is one of the oldest oil and gas regions in Russia. Most of the oil fields are historically concentrated in the vicinity of Grozny.
To date, industrial oil reserves in Chechnya amount to about 60 million tons. And for the most part, they are already exhausted. The total reserves of black gold within the republic are estimated by experts at 370 million tons. True, it is quite difficult to develop them due to the high depth of the horizons. Today, oil production in Chechnya is carried out only at 200 wells out of 1300.
In addition to oil, natural gas, gypsum, marl, limestone and sandstone are produced in the republic. There are also several valuable mineral springs here.
General features of the regional economy
Perhaps the main and most famous feature of the Chechen economy is its subsidization. On average, the republic receives up to 60 billion rubles in annual material assistance from the center. And according to this indicator, Chechnya is one of the three most subsidized regions of Russia.
Another anti-record: the Chechen Republic ranks fourth in the country in terms of unemployment (almost 17%). Most difficult situation observed in villages where there are only 2 to 10 workers per 100 inhabitants. Paradoxically, but the total income of the population of Chechnya is growing every year. The reasons for this growth are various social benefits, benefits, “shadow earnings”, as well as money from labor migrants earned in Moscow and other countries.
In terms of gross product, the Chechen economy ranks only 85th among the regions Russian Federation. As before, the structure of the economy of the republic is dominated by the oil and gas sector. In addition, the construction industry, chemical and food industries are developed here. Construction of a thermal power plant continues in Grozny.
The lion's share of agricultural products is provided by animal husbandry (in particular, sheep and poultry farming). Cereals, sugar beets, potatoes and vegetables are grown on the lands of Chechnya.
Population and cities of Chechnya
Demographically, Chechnya is a young and actively giving birth republic, and religiously, it is a deeply religious one. It boasts the highest natural population growth in the country. Today, 1.4 million people live in Chechnya. 65% of them are rural residents. Chechnya also has the lowest divorce rates in Russia.
The most numerous ethnic group of the republic is Chechens (95%), the dominant religion is Sunni Islam. By the way, according to research in 2012, Chechnya is among the twenty regions of the planet where the rights of Christians are most infringed (according to the Open Doors organization). There are two state languages in the republic - Chechen and Russian.
There are few cities in Chechnya. There are only five of them: Grozny, Urus-Martan, Gudermes, Shali and Argun. Most Big city Chechnya - Grozny. Almost 300 thousand people live here. The oldest is Shali. This city was founded in the XIV century.
The city of Grozny is the capital of the republic
Grozny is the capital of Chechnya and the center of the administrative region of the same name. The city is located on the banks. Its chronology dates back to 1818, when a fortress was founded here. Russian soldiers erected it in just four months. Since at that time this area was a "hot spot" on the map of the North Caucasus, the fortress was nicknamed Grozny.
Modern Grozny is a fairly well-groomed city with dozens of industrial enterprises and a solid number of new buildings. The main sights of Grozny are the grandiose mosque "Heart of Chechnya" and the no less impressive skyscraper complex "Grozny City". The latter is located in the very center of the city and includes five residential buildings, an office building and a five-star hotel.
The resource and engineering-geological potential of the territory is determined both by the geographical location and natural conditions, and by the structure of the geological environment within which engineering and economic activities are carried out. Occupying a relatively small area, the republic is characterized by a significant diversity natural conditions: climate, relief, soils, flora, geological structure, engineering and geological conditions of construction, distribution of minerals, etc. Natural conditions are decisive in carrying out one or another economic activity on the territory of the Republic.
Climate
The Chechen Republic is located in the southern part of the temperate climate zone. Despite the small territorial size, the climate changes significantly with increasing altitude and moving from north to south.
The arid continental climate of the northern semi-desert regions of the republic is characterized by a harsh temperature regime and a high frequency of dry winds and dust storms. To the south, as we approach the ridges of the Greater Caucasus, the climate softens and becomes more humid. In the foothills, a warm, moderately humid climate favors the growth of abundant vegetation. With the ascent to the mountains, the climate becomes colder, excessively humid, less continental, and in the high-mountain zone it acquires the features of the climate of regions of eternal snows.
The climatic conditions of the Chechen Republic, unequal in terms of the degree of favorableness for the construction and economic development of the territory, largely predetermined the territorial distribution and organization of production.
hydrographic network
The hydrographic network of the republic belongs to the basin of the Caspian Sea. The main river of the republic, crossing it from west to east, is the Terek River.
The distribution of the hydrographic network across the territory of the republic is extremely uneven. River network density factor largest reaches in the south of the territory in the mountainous regions of the northern slope of the Main Caucasian Range (0.5-0.6 km / km2). When moving north (to the Grozny-Gudermes line), the density of the river network decreases to 0.2-0.3 km/km2.
The territory north of the Terek River is characterized by the almost complete absence of permanent watercourses.
The complex network of natural watercourses on the territory of the republic is thickened by an artificial irrigation and watering system.
The largest rivers flowing on the territory of the republic are Terek, Sunzha, Argun, Aksai, as well as Fortanga, Gekhi, Martan, Goita, Sharoargun, Dzhalka, Belka, Khulkhulau, etc.
Dangerous geological processes
On the territory of the Chechen Republic, dangerous geological processes are widespread, which have a significant impact on the engineering and geological conditions of construction. The most important of them are seismicity, subsidence, scree, landslides, snow avalanches, landslides, mudflows, karst, sand winding, salinization and waterlogging of soils, erosion, flooding with flood waters.
Seismicity. Within the republic seismicity varies from 7.5 to 9.0 points.
On the territory of Chechnya, there is a possibility of man-made earthquakes, the cause of which is the intensive pumping of oil.
Minerals and resources
At present, deposits of oil, gas, cement raw materials, mineral waters.
Explored reserves do not exhaust the mineral resources of the republic, the degree of geological knowledge of which is relatively low.
The geological structure of the territory predetermines the presence of a diverse complex of new types of valuable minerals.
The foothill part of the Republic is promising for strontium and sulfur, the mountainous part for lead-zinc and copper ores, as well as high-quality facing and building stone. The strip adjacent to the Main Caucasian Range is promising for polymetals.
In addition, the Republic as a whole, and especially the Tersko-Sunzha region, is promising in terms of obtaining geothermal energy. The expected temperature is 160-340˚.
combustible minerals
Oil and gas
The main reserves of oil and gas in the North Caucasus (over 50%) fall on the share of the Chechen Republic, which historically has been one of the country's leading centers for the production and processing of oil.
The Chechen Republic is part of the Tersko-Sunzha oil and gas province. Commercial oil and gas potential is associated with deposits of the Neogene, Paleogene Cretaceous and Jurassic ages.
Oil and gas reservoirs are sands, fractured sandstones, cavernous and fractured limestones, marls separated by strata of salt-bearing rocks of the Upper Jurassic and clays of the Neogene, Paleogene and Cretaceous.
According to existing estimates, the initial geological resources of hydrocarbons are about 1.5 billion tons of reference fuel. To date, the cumulative oil and gas production has reached more than 500 million tons.
For more than a century of oil and gas exploration, more than 30 fields have been discovered containing about 100 oil and gas deposits at depths from several hundred meters to 5-6 km.
Starogroznenskoe Goryacheistochnenskoe
Khayan-Kortovskoye Pravoberezhnoe
Oktyabrskoye Goyt-Kortovskoye
Gorskoye (village Ali-Yurt) Eldarovskoye
Bragunskoye Severo-Bragunskoye
Benoy Datykh
Gudermes Mineral
Severo-Mineralnoe Andreevskoe
Chervlennoye Khankala
Mesketian Severo-Dzhalkinskoe
Lesnoye Ilinskoye
Construction Materials
Due to the large volume of upcoming construction work, the extraction and production of building materials is of particular importance.
For the production of building materials, clay and limestone were explored - for cement raw materials, gypsum and anhydrite, building stone, brick and expanded clay, limestone - for lime, sand and gravel mixture, building and silicate sands. The deposits are located mainly in the immediate vicinity of industrial centers, within the middle part of the Republic
Fresh groundwater
Fresh underground water reserves of the republic are estimated at 30-40 m3/s, which is approximately 30-40% of the surface runoff. These values give an approximate idea of the water supply of the republic.
The total amount of groundwater used in the republic is a small part of the predicted resources.
Only the central part of the republic is assessed as sufficiently provided with groundwater for domestic and drinking water supply. The northern part is insufficiently supplied and the southern part is not provided with groundwater.
The problems of the northern and southern parts of the territory could be solved more intensively by exploiting the existing aquifers. It is also possible to increase the available reserves of groundwater by intensifying work on their search and exploration.
Mineral water
Mineral underground waters on the territory of the republic are known and studied in the valley of the river. Chanty-Argun, on the slopes of the Gudermes and Bragun ranges. Mineral waters come out in the form of springs and are opened by wells; they are diverse in composition.
The operational reserves of mineral waters of the Chechen Republic are approved for two deposits: Chanty-Argunskoye and the Isti-Su deposit.
Surface water resources
The overwhelming majority of the rivers of the republic, both in terms of runoff characteristics and mineralization, can serve as a source of water supply. At present, rivers are only used for watering and irrigating drylands.
The rivers of the republic have significant hydropower potential. The gross hydropower potential of the most studied rivers in 2003 was estimated at 10.4 billion kWh, incl. technically available for development is 3.5 billion kWh (in an average year in terms of water content). The tributaries of the river have the greatest energy resources. Terek - r. Argun, Sharo-Argun.
The rivers of the Chechen Republic are a reservoir of biological resources. In the rivers are found: carp, catfish, pike perch, and in mountain reservoirs - trout. Recently, due to significant pollution of the rivers, the number of fish in them has greatly decreased.
Forests and forest resources
Forests occupy approximately 1/5 of the territory of the republic and they are concentrated mainly in its southern part.
The Chechen Republic belongs to the forest-deficient regions of the country.
More than ¾ of the territory of the Chechen Republic is agricultural land, the fifth part is land of the forest fund and land of tree and shrub vegetation.
Agricultural land makes up about 64% of the entire territory of the Chechen Republic. Among them, pastures are the most significant in terms of area - 57% of agricultural land, more than 36% total area republics (of which the main part is steppe, semi-desert and high-mountainous).
Oil
The beginning of industrial oil production of the republic was laid back in 1893, when the first fountain of oil gushed in the Starogroznensky district. Over the century-long history of the industry, 420 million tons of oil have been extracted from the bowels.
For the first 60 years, prospecting and exploration work here was carried out exclusively on oil and gas deposits in the Miocene deposits. Before the start of World War II, about 4 million tons of oil per year were produced in the republic. During the war years, the oil industry in Grozny was almost completely destroyed. New stage The development of the industry began in the late 1950s, when highly productive deposits were identified and put into development in deep deposits of the Upper Cretaceous age. During the 1960s, oil production progressively increased until 1971, when it reached a peak level of 21.3 million tons and accounted for more than 7% of the total Russian production. In the 1970s, as the productivity of these facilities naturally declined, the annual production level decreased three times. In the 1980s - early 1990s, due to the discovery of new, but less productive deposits, production stabilized at the level of 5-4 million tons. In the 1990s, oil production plummeted.
According to the published data of the Ministry of Oil and Chemical Industry of the Chechen Republic, as of January 1, 1993, there were 23 fields in development, containing 44 oil and one oil and gas condensate deposits. Most of the deposits were already at the stage of natural depletion and increasing water cut. The degree of depletion of deposits was almost 80% - the highest in Russia. The most significant deposits are Starogroznenskoye, Bragunskoye, Oktyabrskoye, Eldarovskoye, Pravoberezhnoye and Goryacheistochnenskoye, which produced about 70% of the total production of the republic. The degree of depletion of the first four of them is almost 95%, and the other two, from which 30% of production came, exceeds 60%.
The total well stock on the above date was 1456 units, and only 9 of them are new. In 1993-94, about 880 wells were producing, including 7 new ones, and at the beginning of December 1994, only about 100 wells were operating. The average productivity of the well did not exceed 4 thousand tons per year.
The degree of exploration of the initial resources of the republic is almost 80%. It is believed that large structures are practically identified, however, the prospects for discovering deposits with smaller reserves at deeper horizons are quite high. Potential oil resources of the Chechen Republic are estimated at about 100 million tons.
In addition to the discovery of new deposits, additional development of depleted deposits, re-commissioning of flooded deposits, the residual reserves of which are estimated at 150 million tons, may be a reserve for increasing production.
Since the late 1950s, the gas industry has been intensively developing in the republic. Five free gas fields produced less than 0.1 billion cubic meters annually. Of much greater importance in the economy of the republic is associated petroleum gas, the production of which in 1992 amounted to 1.3 billion and in 1993 - 1.0 billion.
According to the composition of the oil of the Chechen Republic, it is predominantly paraffinic with a high content of gasoline. Most of the fields are located within the Tersky Ridge system, however, oil wells are also located on the Sunzhensky Ridge and the Black Mountains monocline. There is also an oil field in the Fortanga river valley.
Other minerals of Chechnya
In addition to oil and gas, the Chechen Republic has large reserves of raw materials for the development construction industry. Huge reserves of cement marl, limestone, dolomite, and gypsum are concentrated in the mountainous regions. The most significant reserves of cement marls have been explored in the Chanty-Argun valley. On their basis, as well as using the nearby deposits of Upper Maikop clays, the Chir-Yurt cement plant, restored after the war, operates. Limestone deposits are practically inexhaustible, and there are limestones of beautiful colors. They are well polished and can be used as a facing material.
Gypsum and anhydrite deposits are located between the Gekhi and Sharo-Argun rivers. The largest deposit is located north of the village of Ushkaloy. The gypsum-anhydrite suite here reaches 195 meters. Some varieties of gypsum and anhydrite can be used as an ornamental stone for making souvenirs and art products.
Several sandstone deposits have also been explored in Chechnya, the largest of which are Sernovodskoye, Samashkinskoye, Chishkinskoye. They are used to obtain wall and rubble stone. There are also quartz sands suitable for glass production. Near the village of Small Varanda there is a deposit of mineral paints - ocher, mummy. In the mountains, there are also deposits of table and potash salts. The explored deposits of hard and brown coal have not yet been developed due to their low quality and small reserves.
The ore potential of the Chechen Republic has not yet been sufficiently studied. Several deposits of copper and polymetals are noted in the mountainous part. In the upper reaches of the Sharo-Argun, an antimony-tungsten deposit was discovered containing tin, tantalum and niobium. The sulfur deposit near the village of the Zone is also of interest. On the Chechen plain there are numerous deposits of brick-tile and pottery clay, gravel. Large deposits of building and glass sands, limestone-shell rock, sandstones, brick-tile and bleaching clays are known on the Terek-Sunzhenskaya Upland.
The use of hard coal reserves is currently not profitable for reasons common to the coal mining industry in Russia, as well as due to the depletion of coal seams and the complexity of developing deposits in the KChR. Coal mining in 1996-1997 was only 35 thousand tons per year.
Of great industrial importance is the extraction of copper pyrite ores with a high content of copper and associated zinc. Main deposit? Urupskoye (6 more have been explored, including the large copper Bykovskoye in the Labinsk Gorge). Urupsky Mining and Processing Plant (GOK) is the main copper mining enterprise in the industry, the second largest is Zelenchuksky GOK.
Deposits of gold (near Rozhkao) and silver have been discovered on the territory of the KChR. There are significant reserves of polymetallic ores (the Khudesskoye deposit is the eastern region of the copper-bearing zone), some of which contain copper, zinc, cobalt, etc.
The Republic needs investments for the development of promising fields:
- tungsten ores (Kti-Teberdinsky - a feasibility study for the construction of the Aksautsky tungsten mining and processing plant has been prepared);
- hematite ores (the Biychesyn-Bermamytskoye deposit, with an annual production of 120-150 thousand tons, they can be used to supply iron-containing additives for Kavkazcement JSC and other regions of Russia);
- copper pyrite and sulfur pyrite ores (Khudessky);
- Porcelain stone (at the present time, porcelain and ceramic factories in Russia are experiencing a shortage of raw materials, which is estimated at 350-400 thousand tons in the average annual measurement);
- gold-bearing ores, which, with the necessary additional exploration and development, will provide more than 100 tons of gold.