Salaspils Quarry, Salaspils Parish, Salaspils Municipality, Vidzeme Region, Latviai

Regional Level Types
Salaspils Quarry	Quarry (Active)
Salaspils Parish	Parish
Salaspils Municipality	Municipality
Vidzeme Region	Region
Latvia	Country

Salaspils Gypsum Quarry is a Late Devonian (Salaspils suite) gypsum deposit located in the Salaspils Parish near Salaspils town and 4km away from Saurieši village. It's the only (and the largest) active gypsum deposit in the country since 2008 until today.

The Salaspils deposit has been researched in the old gypsum mining place, where mining started in 1873 and later was abandoned. Gypsum was mined, burned at about 200 degrees, used in building, but even more was exported to other regions. The old mines were flooded and in many places were backfilled and leveled.

In the 1930s, several geological surveys were carried out in this area (by Professor E. Rozenstein in 1930, the Department of Land Management in 1938, and the Institute for Land Research 1939 and 1941). The deposit was explored and the stocks were estimated by Leningrad geologists. It consists of two squares - a small North and a large South occurrence.

For a long time, the deposit wasn't used because in 1961 an experimental nuclear reactor was built nearby and most parts of this deposit were in the reactor's protective zone until its shutdown in the 1990s. When the reactor was decommissioned, the issue of restoring the use of the deposit and the impact of this operation on the environment was widely discussed. In parallel, discussions were held regarding the possibility of mining without using explosives to avoid damaging the reactor.

In 2002 the "Knauf" company started mining the deposit and continues to this day (the company produces gypsum flour and drywall for building). It is estimated this deposit hosts 4.75 million cubic metres of gypsum (01.01.2003). The maximum thickness of the layer containing gypsum is 21.6 m. The thickness of the productive layer is around 11-15 meters. The valid layer consists of satin spar and layered gypsum, clay, dolomite and domerite layers.

In the quarry, one can find small pyrite specimens, different types of gypsum (salmon and white satin spar, brown layered gypsum, selenite, brown plane crystals which form "rosettes"). Pseudomorphs and cones of grey and light blue celestine (!) can also be found.

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