Sayan deposit, Tuva A.S.S.R.

The Sayan asbestos deposit is "situated on the border of Krasnoyarsk Kray and Tuva ASSR," according to Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, which reported in December 1977 that a study of it "resulted in an estimated reserve of 6-million tons" and that "a combine is to be built there, capable of producing 200,000 tons of asbestos per year."¹ A year later the journal said exploration "was completed in 1977" and gave the reserves as "7-million tonnes," with "an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes" anticipated "when the combine is completed."² In January 1981 it wrote that "the Lenin complex is to be built at this site, with a planned annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes," that Soviet geologists "completed a survey of the deposit in the first half of 1980," and that the deposit was "the largest in Siberia."³ The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1980 reported that geologists of the Tuva A.S.S.R. had announced "completion of a survey of a major new deposit at Sayan," which was "reportedly containing 7 million tons of chrysotile," and that "experimental development and long-range planning have started."⁴

The documents describe this as a deposit or prospect: they report exploration or describe the deposit, not mining for sale.²

Year by year

Every statement about this mine in the documents, in each document's own words, by the year it is about.

1977

• Reserves: “a study of the Sayan asbestos deposit ... resulted in an estimated reserve of 6-million tons. A combine is to be built there, capable of producing 200,000 tons of asbestos per year”, p. 34¹
• Reserves: “Exploration work was completed in 1977 at the Sayan asbestos deposit; Reserves have been estimated at 7-million tonnes”, p. 42²

1980

• Exploration: “The Lenin complex is to be built at this site, with a planned annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes. Soviet geologists completed a survey of the deposit in the first half of 1980”, p. 28³
• Exploration: “completion of a survey of a major new deposit at Sayan”, p. 8⁴
• Exploration: “experimental development and long-range planning have started”, p. 8⁴
• Reserves: “Reportedly containing 7 million tons of chrysotile”, p. 8⁴

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1977, December 1977 (December 1, 1977), p. 34.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1978, December 1978 (December 1, 1978), p. 42.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1981, January 1981 (January 1, 1981), p. 28.
4. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1980 (January 1, 1981), p. 8.