 |
This bilingual volume deals with the investigation and significance of the more than 5,000-year-old gold mine in Kachagiani Hill near Sakdrisi, Georgian Republic, which was explored in 2004-13 and destroyed in 2014. It contains a foreword by the General Director of the Georgian National Museum, sixteen scientific contributions, a find catalogue, and a bibliography. The papers deal with the twelve years of the Georgian-German Sakdrisi-Expedition, the Caucasus as ore mountains, the geology of the ore-deposits at Sakdrisi, the mine and its excavation, the structural and archaeological evidence from the mine, an experimental approach to the mining of hard-rock deposits, the mining tools from Sakdrisi, the accommodation of miners on Dzedzvebi Plateau, the Kura-Araxes settlement in area II/III, the Kura-Araxes graves and a spectacular monument nearby, gold mining as a ritual activity in area II/III, the amount of mined gold and the mining methods, the chalcolithic ancestors from a settlement on the southern plateau, the features of the late 2nd and early 1st millennium B.C. as well as the futile campaign for the conservation of the gold mine. Salz, Kupfer, Gold: Früher Bergbau im Kaukasus (vorher Gold in Georgien) |
Showing posts with label Gold mine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gold mine. Show all posts
Saturday, August 15, 2020
BOOK: The Gold of Sakdrisi: Man's first gold mining enterprise (Veröffentlichungen aus dem Deutschen Bergbau-Museum Bochum) (Georgisch) Gebundene Ausgabe. Von Thomas Stöllner & Irina Gambashidze
Saturday, May 31, 2014
VIDEO: Campaign to save ancient gold mine in Georgia - Sakdrisi
Civil society activists in Georgia are campaigning to save what international archaeologists believe could be the world's oldest gold mine.
Scientists say it dates back nearly 5,400 years. But the Georgian government has recently allowed commercial mining to start there, saying the site has no historical value.
Rayhan Demytrie spoke to Dr Thomas Stoellner, of the Archeologist University of Bohum, Soso Tsabadze from RMG Gold, and activist Marine Mizandari.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
GLOBALIZATION: Gold mining's cultural cost. By Paul Rimple, Tbilisi (dw.de)
(dw.de) Civil society in the Republic of Georgia is up in arms about the government's decision to allow a mining company to excavate and destroy what many archaeologists contend is the oldest gold mine in the world.
Read also by Paul Rimple: Conservation
Ancient site pits locals against big business in Georgia [dw.de]
Plans by big business to destroy an ancient site south of the Georgian capital Tbilisi are causing anger among local protesters and international scientists. They say it's an ancient gold mine dating back 5,000 years.
The rolling plains of Georgia's Bolnisi region aren't just serene. They also represent one of the most significant areas worldwide for archeologists looking for ancient human remains.
In the tiny village of Dmanisi, a 1.8 million year-old human skull was recently discovered to the amazement of scientists. Nearby, a team of archeologists from the National Museum of Georgia and the German Mining Museum (DBM) unearthed Bronze Era caves.
But the area is also rich in minerals. One site, known as Sakdrisi, is even believed to be home to a 5,000-year-old gold mine. The area was part of a concession of land the Georgian government allotted for the exploration of minerals in 1994.
In 2006, Georgia's Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection added the ancient gold mine site to its list of protected cultural monuments. The archeological significance of the region had been a source of pride to the company that had the initial rights to mine the area. But that's now due to change. The Russian-owned company RMG bought the lease in 2012, and now plans to mine for gold.
The power of gold
RMG believes that rich gold deposits are directly under the ancient gold mine site and petitioned strongly for the government to lift Sakdrisi's protected status.
The Georgian Ministry of Culture formed a commission to study the site's status in May 2013. After one month of investigations, the commission ruled that no grounds exist to justify the protected status. In July 2013, the Ministry of Culture revoked its protected cultural heritage status.
The commission also held that the previous Georgian government had granted the protected status illegally, although they say they cannot find the 2006 documents that granted Sakdrisi permanent protection.
Thomas Stöllner, from DBM, challenged the commission's scientific qualifications though, requesting in an open letter that a new international committee be set up to test the site's archaeological signficance. So far the request has fallen on deaf ears.
Conflicts of interest
Gold exports are big business in Georgia. Sales of the precious metal overseas totalled 25.7 million euros ($35.5 million) in 2013, nearly 3 percent of the country's total export earnings.
RMG Commercial Director Solomon Tsabadze, a former Georgian Environment Ministry official, says the mining company provides 85 percent of the local budget through licensing fees and is the largest single employer in the region.
But civil society groups suspect collusion between the mining company and the government. Back in 1994 a Ministry of Environment official, Zurab Kutelia, issued the original mining permit for Sakdrisi. Today, he is the chairperson RMG's supervisory board and a company shareholder. On the other hand, other former mining company directors have become government officials too.
For Marine Mizandari, Georgia's former Deputy Minister of Culture, the ministry's decision to remove Sakdrisi from its list of protected sites is a serious setback.
"Why are we called the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia, if we don't protect our monuments of culture?" she said to DW, adding that she believes she was dismissed from her post in the culture ministry for reasons related to Sakdrisi.
Citizens stand up
Mizandari is now at the forefront of the Public Committee to Save Sakdrisi, a coalition of civil society groups and students demanding that the Culture Ministry appoint a non-partisan group of international experts to re-evaluate Sakdrisi.
But her protest work is not yet getting results. At a recent meeting with university students on the issue, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili reiterated the commission's controversial findings, saying there was no proof gold had ever been mined in Sakdrisi. He stressed that RMG has already invested heavily in the Georgian economy and that protecting Sakdrisi would jeopardize the jobs of 3,000 people.
RMG has now been given the green light to begin excavating, and activists and students have organized protests against the Culture Ministry's decision in Tbilisi and near the mine site. One of their chief complaints is their exclusion from the decision-making process.
"You can stop anybody on the street and every Georgian will tell you they are proud of their history and culture," said Avtandil Ioseliani, representing Unanimity, a local NGO coalition. "I don't know what the Culture Ministry is doing, but they are not answering the questions society has."
Although Sakdrisi has lost its cultural heritage protected status, it is still an archeological site, which prevents RMG from destroying it completely. The Culture Ministry has announced that it will appoint an independent group of archeological experts to monitor the mining work done.
But mining opponents fail to see the logic in the policy, since the mining process requires blasting and the destruction of the ancient tunnels, they say.
Nikoloz Antidze, from the National Agency for Cultural Heritage and Preservation of Georgia, recalls how archeological sites were ruined when BP laid an oil pipeline across the country in last 10 years.
"State interests often override archaeological interests all over the world, not just in Georgia," he told DW.
Read also by Paul Rimple: Conservation
Ancient site pits locals against big business in Georgia [dw.de]
Plans by big business to destroy an ancient site south of the Georgian capital Tbilisi are causing anger among local protesters and international scientists. They say it's an ancient gold mine dating back 5,000 years.
The rolling plains of Georgia's Bolnisi region aren't just serene. They also represent one of the most significant areas worldwide for archeologists looking for ancient human remains.
In the tiny village of Dmanisi, a 1.8 million year-old human skull was recently discovered to the amazement of scientists. Nearby, a team of archeologists from the National Museum of Georgia and the German Mining Museum (DBM) unearthed Bronze Era caves.
But the area is also rich in minerals. One site, known as Sakdrisi, is even believed to be home to a 5,000-year-old gold mine. The area was part of a concession of land the Georgian government allotted for the exploration of minerals in 1994.
In 2006, Georgia's Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection added the ancient gold mine site to its list of protected cultural monuments. The archeological significance of the region had been a source of pride to the company that had the initial rights to mine the area. But that's now due to change. The Russian-owned company RMG bought the lease in 2012, and now plans to mine for gold.
The power of gold
RMG believes that rich gold deposits are directly under the ancient gold mine site and petitioned strongly for the government to lift Sakdrisi's protected status.
The Georgian Ministry of Culture formed a commission to study the site's status in May 2013. After one month of investigations, the commission ruled that no grounds exist to justify the protected status. In July 2013, the Ministry of Culture revoked its protected cultural heritage status.
The commission also held that the previous Georgian government had granted the protected status illegally, although they say they cannot find the 2006 documents that granted Sakdrisi permanent protection.
Thomas Stöllner, from DBM, challenged the commission's scientific qualifications though, requesting in an open letter that a new international committee be set up to test the site's archaeological signficance. So far the request has fallen on deaf ears.
Conflicts of interest
Gold exports are big business in Georgia. Sales of the precious metal overseas totalled 25.7 million euros ($35.5 million) in 2013, nearly 3 percent of the country's total export earnings.
RMG Commercial Director Solomon Tsabadze, a former Georgian Environment Ministry official, says the mining company provides 85 percent of the local budget through licensing fees and is the largest single employer in the region.
But civil society groups suspect collusion between the mining company and the government. Back in 1994 a Ministry of Environment official, Zurab Kutelia, issued the original mining permit for Sakdrisi. Today, he is the chairperson RMG's supervisory board and a company shareholder. On the other hand, other former mining company directors have become government officials too.
For Marine Mizandari, Georgia's former Deputy Minister of Culture, the ministry's decision to remove Sakdrisi from its list of protected sites is a serious setback.
"Why are we called the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia, if we don't protect our monuments of culture?" she said to DW, adding that she believes she was dismissed from her post in the culture ministry for reasons related to Sakdrisi.
Citizens stand up
Mizandari is now at the forefront of the Public Committee to Save Sakdrisi, a coalition of civil society groups and students demanding that the Culture Ministry appoint a non-partisan group of international experts to re-evaluate Sakdrisi.
But her protest work is not yet getting results. At a recent meeting with university students on the issue, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili reiterated the commission's controversial findings, saying there was no proof gold had ever been mined in Sakdrisi. He stressed that RMG has already invested heavily in the Georgian economy and that protecting Sakdrisi would jeopardize the jobs of 3,000 people.
RMG has now been given the green light to begin excavating, and activists and students have organized protests against the Culture Ministry's decision in Tbilisi and near the mine site. One of their chief complaints is their exclusion from the decision-making process.
"You can stop anybody on the street and every Georgian will tell you they are proud of their history and culture," said Avtandil Ioseliani, representing Unanimity, a local NGO coalition. "I don't know what the Culture Ministry is doing, but they are not answering the questions society has."
Although Sakdrisi has lost its cultural heritage protected status, it is still an archeological site, which prevents RMG from destroying it completely. The Culture Ministry has announced that it will appoint an independent group of archeological experts to monitor the mining work done.
But mining opponents fail to see the logic in the policy, since the mining process requires blasting and the destruction of the ancient tunnels, they say.
Nikoloz Antidze, from the National Agency for Cultural Heritage and Preservation of Georgia, recalls how archeological sites were ruined when BP laid an oil pipeline across the country in last 10 years.
"State interests often override archaeological interests all over the world, not just in Georgia," he told DW.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
HISTORY: Gold in the Caucasus: New Research on Gold Extraction in the Kura-Araxes Culture of the 4th and early 3rd Millennium BC (de.scribd.com)
A. Hauptmann, A. Hornschuch, F. Klein, M. Jansen, S. Senczek,
M. Schaich, G. Steffens and S. Timberlake
With an appendix on recent results by M. Jansen
full text here: de.scribd.com/Gold-in-the-Caucasus
Friday, January 10, 2014
PROTEST in BERLIN: Gegen die Zerstörung des 5000 jahre altes Goldbergwerk Sakdrisi und gegendie Abholzung des Vakeparks in Tbilisi, Georgien
Sonntag, 12. Januar 2014 um 12:00
Friedlicher Protest gegen die Zerstörung des 5000 jahre altes Goldbergwerk Sakdrisi, Georgien und gegen Naturzerstörung durch Abholzung des Vakeparks in Tbilisi, Georgien
Thursday, January 09, 2014
A LETTER FROM GEORGIA: Sakdrisi "gold mine" & Romanian gold mine protest (examiner.com)
(examiner.com) We appeal to you on behalf of The Unity of Archeologists of Georgia, regarding the sensitive issue of the so-called “Sakdrisi Oldest Gold Mine” in Bolnisi Municipality, Georgia...
Recently, the problem regarding this archeological object has become the subject of wide discussions of the certain circles of the society, not only in Georgia but also abroad.
Georgian-German archeological team, headed by Mr. Stollner and Mrs. Ghambashidze think that the object represents the ancient goldmine and, hence, it shall be granted the status of monument. However, there are quite strong scientific opinions, stating that the existence of the gold mine in Sakdrisi 5,400 years ago is not proved.
Furthermore, this summer the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia founded an ad hoc professional commission, which has studied the problem and formulated the conclusion that the German-Georgian archeologists has provided no reliable and scientific proofs on the existence of the prehistoric goldmine, dated back to 4th-3rd millennia B.C. Moreover, there is no doubt that in 2006 the status of cultural heritage was assigned to the so-called “Sakdrisi-Kachagiani oldest gold mine” by falsification and full negligence of the Georgian laws.
Instead of appealing the decision of the Ministry of Culture in the Court of Justice, Mr. Stollner and Mrs. Ghambashidze launched a dirty PR campaign, which obliges us, The Unity of Archeologists of Georgia to provide you with all necessary documents in order to have a full picture of the up mentioned case.
The matter of our concern is that we would like you to understand the situation more clearly:
· - If the truth is not proved, the mining company, which paid US $150 million for the license, will withdraw from Georgia;
· - This will cause firing of about 3000 direct workers and in addition unemployment of 1000 men now completing logistic works for the company;
· - Cancelling of 85% of the Bolnisi regional budget;
· - Cancelling of about US$ 30 million annually paid by the company to the state budget as different taxes;
· - Huge ecological disaster as far as liquidation of the company will cause spills of heavy metal bearing water to the Mashavera Rivar, now purified by the company;
· - Huge damage to the image of Georgia as a country creating good environment for investors.
Contact: Giorgi Gagishvili, Director, LTD ''UNITY OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS''
Georgia,Tbilisi (via Paolo Biagi's e-mail pavelius@unive.it) for relevant documents
Links:
Älteste Goldmine wird nach dubiosem Gutachten einer modernen Minengesellschaft preisgegeben [archaeologik.blogspot.de]
Georgia's Lost City of Gold
The Gold Mine of Sakdrissi: Results and analyses and a calculation of the prehistoric gold exploitation
THE So Called Ancient Gold Mine of Sakdrisi-Kachagiani – Myth or Reality?
Russian Owned Madneuli Plans New Investments In Georgia [gab-ibn.com]
Gold Race in Sakadrisi Layer [gardabaniherald.blogspot.de]
Video: Romanian Gold Mine protest
Gold in Georgia [gnmsciencecafe.wordpress.com]
Position to Sakdrisi Gold Mining Complex (Deutscher Verband für Archäologie)
Bronze Age gold in Southern Georgia [archeosciences.revues.org]
THE So Called Ancient Gold Mine of Sakdrisi-Kachagiani – Myth or Reality? [georgiatoday.ge]
Culture Heritage Which We Neglect – Ancient Mine in Sakdrisi [humanrights.ge]
Goldbergbau in Südostgeorgien – Neue Forschungen zum frühbronzezeitlichen Bergbau in Georgien [pdf]
Recently, the problem regarding this archeological object has become the subject of wide discussions of the certain circles of the society, not only in Georgia but also abroad.
Georgian-German archeological team, headed by Mr. Stollner and Mrs. Ghambashidze think that the object represents the ancient goldmine and, hence, it shall be granted the status of monument. However, there are quite strong scientific opinions, stating that the existence of the gold mine in Sakdrisi 5,400 years ago is not proved.
Furthermore, this summer the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia founded an ad hoc professional commission, which has studied the problem and formulated the conclusion that the German-Georgian archeologists has provided no reliable and scientific proofs on the existence of the prehistoric goldmine, dated back to 4th-3rd millennia B.C. Moreover, there is no doubt that in 2006 the status of cultural heritage was assigned to the so-called “Sakdrisi-Kachagiani oldest gold mine” by falsification and full negligence of the Georgian laws.
Instead of appealing the decision of the Ministry of Culture in the Court of Justice, Mr. Stollner and Mrs. Ghambashidze launched a dirty PR campaign, which obliges us, The Unity of Archeologists of Georgia to provide you with all necessary documents in order to have a full picture of the up mentioned case.
The matter of our concern is that we would like you to understand the situation more clearly:
· - If the truth is not proved, the mining company, which paid US $150 million for the license, will withdraw from Georgia;
· - This will cause firing of about 3000 direct workers and in addition unemployment of 1000 men now completing logistic works for the company;
· - Cancelling of 85% of the Bolnisi regional budget;
· - Cancelling of about US$ 30 million annually paid by the company to the state budget as different taxes;
· - Huge ecological disaster as far as liquidation of the company will cause spills of heavy metal bearing water to the Mashavera Rivar, now purified by the company;
· - Huge damage to the image of Georgia as a country creating good environment for investors.
Contact: Giorgi Gagishvili, Director, LTD ''UNITY OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS''
Georgia,Tbilisi (via Paolo Biagi's e-mail pavelius@unive.it) for relevant documents
Links:
Älteste Goldmine wird nach dubiosem Gutachten einer modernen Minengesellschaft preisgegeben [archaeologik.blogspot.de]
Georgia's Lost City of Gold
The Gold Mine of Sakdrissi: Results and analyses and a calculation of the prehistoric gold exploitation
THE So Called Ancient Gold Mine of Sakdrisi-Kachagiani – Myth or Reality?
Russian Owned Madneuli Plans New Investments In Georgia [gab-ibn.com]
Gold Race in Sakadrisi Layer [gardabaniherald.blogspot.de]
Video: Romanian Gold Mine protest
Gold in Georgia [gnmsciencecafe.wordpress.com]
Position to Sakdrisi Gold Mining Complex (Deutscher Verband für Archäologie)
Bronze Age gold in Southern Georgia [archeosciences.revues.org]
THE So Called Ancient Gold Mine of Sakdrisi-Kachagiani – Myth or Reality? [georgiatoday.ge]
Culture Heritage Which We Neglect – Ancient Mine in Sakdrisi [humanrights.ge]
Goldbergbau in Südostgeorgien – Neue Forschungen zum frühbronzezeitlichen Bergbau in Georgien [pdf]
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