Abstract

The shortage of liquid and gaseous fossil fuels in the world growing day by day has led to intensive searches for new energy sources. The focus on solid fuels has increased dramatically, particularly on oil shales and brown coals, the world reserves of which significantly exceed the known reserves of liquid hydrocarbons combined. Moreover, solid caustobiolites, in addition to being source of energy, also have another “merit” undiscovered until recent decades: they are natural accumulators of noble and rare metals. More than 40 deposits and occurrences of brown coal and oil shales are known within the borders of Armenia. Prospecting work of coal and oil shales, as well as of bituminous formations, has been done for decades. However, in general, the study of fuel and energy resources of the Republic was unplanned, unsystematic, and it is currently in unsatisfactory condition. Moreover, the existing preconditions for expanding the raw material base of solid fossil fuels require ongoing research, since coal and oil shales can have a significant share in the energy balance of the Republic of Armenia. More than 16 deposits of brown coal and oil shales were studied in detail in Armenia during the Soviet years. According to the data received, exploitation of those deposits was considered to be inefficient, and the resources of coals were considered to be non-perspective in terms of fuel raw materials. However, solid fossil fuels have another “aspect” of usefulness, i.e. metallogeny․ Interest in the issue of black shales metallogeny has increased over the last 35 years. Targeted combined studies of noble and rare metals in the black-shale complexes are a fundamentally new phenomenon in our country, and they have been carried out for the first time.

Keywords:Armenia; Black shale; Noble and rare metals; Brown coals; Metal bearing