The article considers the geological setting and mineralogy of oxidation zone of the Vorovskaya Yama copper occurrence (South Transurals), which was exploited in 17th–16th centuries BC by miners of the Alakul culture. The ore occurrence is confned to the contact of serpentinites and Devonian basalts; mineralization is associated with small intrusive bodies of syenites and belongs to skarn type. Andradite and clinopyroxene are major minerals of skarns. The oxidation zone contains subordinate (plagioclase, amphibole, epidote, chlorite, quartz, zoisite, muscovite, and malachite), accessory (Cr-rich spinel, magnetite, barite, chalcopyrite, covellite, pyrrhotite, cubanite, and native gold) and supergene (smectites, Fe oxyhydroxides, opal, native copper, and iodargyrite) minerals. The upper horizons of the oxidation zone with weathered skarns and malachite were exploited in the Bronze Age. Copper ore of the Vorovskaya Yama type in the South Urals Bronze Age settlements can be identifed by the presence of garnet, as well as the presence of Zn, Ag and Se in oxidized ore.

Keywords: ancient mine, oxidation zone, skarn, copper ores, Bronze Age, South Urals.

Funding. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 25-18-20001 «The First Bronze Age Miners in the Southern Trans-Urals: Technologies, Contacts and Everyday Life».

Confict of interest. The authors declare that they have no conficts of interest.

Authors contribution. A.M. Yuminov, M.N. Ankushev – concept development, research, writing of the manuscript draft; P.S. Ankusheva – archaeological description of materials and history of research; Sh.Kh. Kuldashev, I.A. Blinov, P.V. Khvorov, K.A. Filippova – analytical work.

For citation: Yuminov A.M., Kuldashev Sh.Kh., Blinov I.A., Khvorov P.V., Filippova K.A., Ankushev M.N., Ankusheva P.S. Mineralogy of oxidation zone of the Vorovskaya Yama ancient copper mine (South Transurals). Mineralogy, 2025, 11(3), 51–66. DOI: 10.35597/2313-545X-2025-11-3-4.

Received 04.08.2025, revised 04.10.2025, accepted 06.10.2025

A.M. Yuminov, South Urals Federal Research Center of Mineralogy and Geoecology UB RAS,Miass, Chelyabinsk oblast, Russia; ankushev_maksim@mail.ru

Sh.Kh. Kuldashev,  OJCS Polymetal, St. Peterburg, Russia;

I.A. Blinov, South Urals Federal Research Center of Mineralogy and Geoecology UB RAS,Miass, Chelyabinsk oblast, Russia;

P.V. Khvorov, South Urals Federal Research Center of Mineralogy and Geoecology UB RAS,Miass, Chelyabinsk oblast, Russia;

K.A. Filippova, South Urals Federal Research Center of Mineralogy and Geoecology UB RAS,Miass, Chelyabinsk oblast, Russia;

M.N. Ankushev, South Urals Federal Research Center of Mineralogy and Geoecology UB RAS,Miass, Chelyabinsk oblast, Russia;

P.S. Ankusheva, South Urals Federal Research Center of Mineralogy and Geoecology UB RAS,Miass, Chelyabinsk oblast, Russia;

1. Ankushev M.N., Alaeva I.P., Medvedeva P.S., Chechushkov I.V., Sharapov D.V. (2016) Metallurgical slags from the Bronze Age settelments of the Zingeika river valley (South Urals). Geoarkheologiya i arkheologicheskaya mineralogiya (Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy), 3, 116–120. (in Russian)
2. Ankushev M.N., Yuminov A.M., Blinov I.A., Kotlyarov V.A. (2017) Metallurgical slags of the ancient mine Vorovskaya Yama (South Urals). Geoarkheologiya i arkheologicheskaya mineralogiya (Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy), 4, 128–133. (in Russian)
3. Ankusheva P.S., Ankushev M.N., Blinov I.A., Artemyev D.A., Alaeva I.P. (2023) Mineralogical and geochemical research of evidence of the Alakul metal production at the Vorovskaya Yama mine (South Trans-Urals). Rossiyskaya arkheologiya (Russian Archaeology), 3, 23–37. (in Russian)
4. Ankusheva P.S., Rassadnikov A.Yu., Ankushev M.N., Bachura O.P., Chechushkov I.V., Kiseleva D.V., Zazovs-kaya E.P., Epimakhov A.V. (2024) Meat supply of Alakul miners at the Bronze Age Vorovskaya Yama copper mine (southern Trans-Urals). Environmental Archaeology, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2024.2321419
5. Ankusheva P.S., Yuminov A.M., Molchanov I.V., Alaeva I.P., Ankushev M.N. (2023). The Functionality of building structures at the Bronze Age Vorovskaya Yama mine in the Southern Trans-Urals (based on the 2021 excavation) Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy. Springer
6. Proceedings in Earth and Environmental Sciences, 232–243. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46424-9_22
7. Ankusheva P.S., Zazovskaya E.P., Yuminov A.M., Ankushev M.N., Alaeva I.P., Epimakhov A.V. (2022) Radiocarbon chronology of Bronze Age mines in the Southern Trans-Urals: frst results. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 14, 218. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s12520-022-01681-5
8. Belogub E.V., Moseychuk V.M., Novoselov K.A., Lonshchakova G.F., Blinov I.A. (2025) Mineralogy of oxidized ore of the Balkanskoe tungsten deposit (South Urals). Mineralogiya (Mineralogy), 3, XX-XX. (in Russian)
9. Denisenko V.K. (1978) Tungsten deposits. Moscow, Nedra. 143 p. (in Russian)
10. Kargaly. Vol. I: Geological and geographical characteristics. History of discoveries, exploitation and research. Archaeological sites (2002) Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoy kultury, 112 p. (in Russian)
11. Matveeva G.I., Kolev Yu.I., Korolev A.I. (2004) Bronze Age mining and metallurgical complex near the village of Mikhailo-Ovsyanka in the south of the Samara region (frst results and research problems). Voprosy arkheologii Urala i Povolzh’ya (Problems of Archaeology of the Urals and Volga Region), 2, 64–88. (in Russian)
12. Meinert L.D. (1992) Skarns and skarn deposits. Geoscience Canada, (4), 145–162.
13. Moseychuk V.M., Yarkova A.V., Mikhailov I.G., Kashina L.V., Surin T.N., Plokhikh N.A., Yuretsky V.N. (2013) State geological map of the Russian Federation on a scale of 1 : 200 000. South Ural series. Sheet N-40-XXX. Explanatory note. Moscow, Moscow Branch of VSEGEI, 222 p. (in Russian)
14. Noskevich V.V., Fedorova N.V. (2018) Using the ground penetrating radar method to study the ancient copper mine Vorovskaya Yama in the South Urals. Izvestiya UGGU (News of the Ural State Mining University), 4(52), 61–67. (in Russian)
15. Russian geological encyclopedia. Vol. 3. (2012) Moscow–St. Petersburg: VSEGEI, 519 p. (in Russian)
16. Shishlina N., Roslyakova N., Kolev Yu., Bachura O.P., Kuznetsova O.V., Kiseleva D., Retivov V.M., Tereschenko E. (2020). Animals, metal and isotopes: Mikhailo-Ovsyanka I, the Late Bronze Age mining site of the steppe Volga region. Archaeological Research in Asia, 24, 100229. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ara.2020.100229
17. Zaykov V.V., Kotlyarov V.A., Kuzhuget R.V., Yuminov A.M. (2015) Iodide mineralization in rodingites of the ancient Vorovskaya Yama mine, South Urals. Metallogeniya drevnikh i sovremennykh okeanov-2015. Mestorozhdeniya okeanicheskikh struktur: geologiya, mineralogiya, geokhimiya i usloviya obrazovaniya (Metallogeny of Ancient and Modern Oceans-2015. Deposits in Oceanic Structures: Geology, Mineralogy, and Formation Conditions). Miass, Institut mineralogii UrO RAN, 208–211. (in Russian).
18. Zaykov V.V., Yuminov A.M., Dunaev A.Yu., Zdanovich G.B., Grigoriev S.A. (2005) Geological and mineralogical studies of ancient copper mines in South Urals. Arkheologiya, etnografya i antropologiya Yevrazii (Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia), 4, 101–115. (in Russian)
19. Zaykov V.V., Yuminov A.M., Zdanovich G.B., Noskevich V.V. (2014) Ancient copper mines in South Urals ultramaftes (archaeological relics Vorovskaya Yama as example). Geoarkheologiya i arkheologicheskaya mineralogiya (Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy), 1, 103–107. (in Russian)
20. Zaykov V.V., Zdanovich G.B., Yuminov A.M. (1995) The Bronze Age Vorovskaya Yama copper mine. Materialy konferentsii “Rossiya i vostok: problemy vzaimodeystviya” (Proceedings of Conference “Russia and the East: Problems of Interaction”). Chelyabinsk, ChGU, 157–162. (in Russian)
21. Zaykov V.V., Zdanovich G.B., Yuminov A.M. (2000) Vorovskaya Yama – a New Bronze Age Mine. Arkheologicheskiy istochnik i modelirovanie tekhnologiy:rudy muzeya-zapovednika Arkaim (Proceedings of the Arkaim Museum-Reserve: Archaeological Source and Modeling of Ancient Technologies). Chelyabinsk, Arkaim, Institut Istorii i Arkheologii UrO, 112–130. (in Russian)
22. Zharikov V.A. (1968) Skarn deposits. In: Genezis endogennyh rudnyh mestorozhdeniy (Genesis of endogenic ore deposits). Moscow, Nedra, 220–302. (in Russian)