23rd Aug 2017 22:00 UTCJohn R. Montgomery🌟Expert
what have you got there,Casper?
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Kola! 2017
Last Updated: 4th Dec 2018By Jolyon Ralph
This is a LIVE report, keep this page loaded for live updates - new images will appear as they are added.
Finally we're off on a Sukhoi Superjet from Moscow to Murmansk.
We are flying over the Kola Peninsula!
Landed at Murmansk! And yes, as you probably guessed the flight didn't take three minutes i am simply uploading photos later now that I have free time and internet!
Who would have guessed that Murmansk, a city above the Arctic Circle, would have a four floor modern shopping mall? Certainly not Casper...
Four hour drive from Murmansk to Kirovsk.
Somewhat concerned when arriving at hotel. Have they actually finished building it yet? Turns out this is an extension and remodelling and the inside is all good!
First stop! The Kirovsk mine...
We got to do some collecting on the dumps
There's a lot of abandoned soviet era buildings.
The rock here is an alkali pegmatite sometimes, as here, with eudialyte and titanite.
Graffiti on the old buildings.
Collectors collecting
Casper seems happy.
Starting the day with a briefing about the geology of the area by Kirill, our group leader and expert on geology of this region.
First today a tour of the polar botanical gardens here where they grow plants and trees for northern Russian cities. It occupies the whole mountain.
This mountain...
Over the river into the gardens.
Testing foreign and domestic species
For need in 1931. My fingers are freezing so apologies if I am slow with updates
Some kind of plant. Sorry, that's the best I can do.
An American bean species that escaped from the research station and clearly thrives in this difficult climate. Unlike me.
These flowers are used for landscaping towns and cities in the north.
Wild buckwheat
Eudialyte in an alluvial pebble on the path here...
Mammoth hill :)
In the greenhouse
A plant of some kind.
"Desert" greenhouse- just like being back in Tucson :)
We'll be back to rocks soon I promise, but until then here's a cactus!
At the mining museum in Kirovsk
Statue outside :)
Hunting through rocks in the gift shop
The mines here, run by Russian company Fosagro, are used to mine apatite for fertiliser production. This is a selection of their final products, mostly ammonium phosphate pellets.
The hall of fame about the history and important people related to these mines.
A 3D relief model of the Khibiny massif.
Geological map from 1926 derived from the work of Willheim Ramsay working under A.E. Fersman.
Fersman (on right) on a field trip in the area c.1930
Here's Fersman in the field a decade earlier (1921) - check out his field gear!
Kirill telling us everything about the history of the deposit.
5 volumes of books on apatite of Khibiny
An example of the rock type khibinite, which is a nepheline syenite.
Billiard balls in local stone
Mineral gallery
As the label says :)
Natrolite
More minerals.
Big 35cm wide piece.
More minerals!
Another rarity
Loparite
Titanite and it's products.
Exploring the galleries.
Amethyst from the Tersky Coast.
Eudialyte
Worldwide systematic gallery
Staurolite.
Forsterite
This isn't local :)
Interesting Urals hematite.
Lorenzenite.
Mining machine models.
Exhibition of photographs of Kola by Grigori Ilin
Bugs in amber? No :)
Dumps of minerals from Yuksporr mt.
Aegirine etc.
Pegmatite boulders
Large aegirines
Looking through the finds - so far we've found eudialyte, astrophyllite, djerfischite, annite, sodalite, delhaleyite, hydrodelhaleyite, ilmenite, serandite, natrolite, and more rarities that need further examination.
Some of the mining equipment is on display today - Miners day.
Back in the van, it's a bit wet out!
One of the mining company buildings !
Click here for part 2 of this report.
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Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2026, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are© OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 byJolyon Ralph and Ida Chau.
To cite: Ralph, J., Von Bargen, D., Martynov, P., Zhang, J., Que, X., Prabhu, A., Morrison, S. M., Li, W., Chen, W., & Ma, X. (2025). Mindat.org: The open access mineralogy database to accelerate data-intensive geoscience research. American Mineralogist, 110(6), 833–844.doi:10.2138/am-2024-9486.
Privacy Policy -Terms & Conditions -Contact Us / DMCA issues -Report a bug/vulnerabilityCurrent server date and time: February 14, 2026 05:30:41
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2026, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are© OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 byJolyon Ralph and Ida Chau.
To cite: Ralph, J., Von Bargen, D., Martynov, P., Zhang, J., Que, X., Prabhu, A., Morrison, S. M., Li, W., Chen, W., & Ma, X. (2025). Mindat.org: The open access mineralogy database to accelerate data-intensive geoscience research. American Mineralogist, 110(6), 833–844.doi:10.2138/am-2024-9486.
Privacy Policy -Terms & Conditions -Contact Us / DMCA issues -Report a bug/vulnerabilityCurrent server date and time: February 14, 2026 05:30:41