Conder Ridge: a magic ring that contains the world's largest platinum reserves

Despite the incredible beauty and amazing shape, the Conder ring-shaped ridge is not included in the list of visited tourist attractions of the Far East. And the thing is not only that the nearest settlement is more than 75 kilometers away, and the territory itself is devoid of infrastructure and is replete with brown bears. Inside the ridge is the world's largest deposit of platinum - a noble metal whose value is comparable to gold, and in many ways exceeds it.

Conder Ridge is located in the north of the Khabarovsk Territory, in the Ayano-May district. The mountains form an almost perfect ring in shape, the diameter of which is about 8 kilometers. The mountain ring opens only in one place, in the northern part, where the Conder river flowing from it paved its way into the wild. It is interesting that, despite the proximity of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the river flows north and belongs to the basin of the Arctic Ocean. The height of the ridge varies from 1200 to 1387 meters. The nearest settlement is the village of Dzhigda with a population of about 200 people, located 70 kilometers east of the Conder Range.

Scientists became interested in the ring-shaped mountain back in the 30s of the last century. Initially, it was believed that the ridge has a meteorite origin and was formed as a result of the impact of a celestial body on the surface of the Earth. But large-scale studies conducted in the 1970s have shown that this is not so. According to geologists, Conder was formed as a result of magmatic intrusion. In past geological eras, this area was a zone of volcanic activity. The molten magma came to the surface, but in the case of the Conder ridge, the buoyancy was not enough, and a huge "bubble" of magma only raised the upper layers of the rock, composed of shales. They formed a mysterious ridge, which the ancestors of the Yakuts and Evenki considered holy and called Urgul.

Igneous rocks always have a rich set of valuable elements, and the Conder ridge was no exception in this regard. In its central part, a unique in its parameters platinoid deposit was discovered. More than 50 minerals containing elements of the platinum group were found in it, some of which are extremely rare on the planet or even contained only in the Conder deposit. The main platinum mineral of the deposit is isoferroplatinum, which, in addition to platinum, contains valuable iridium. In addition to platinoids, gold and silver were found here. The loose platinum deposit inside the ridge, as well as deposits in the Conder valley, have been developed since the 80s of the last century.

Pure platinum is a shiny silver-white metal. The main deposits of this precious metal are in South Africa, Russia, China, Canada, Zimbabwe and the USA. Platinum and various alloys with its presence are widely used for the manufacture of jewelry, in medicine, in the manufacture of electrodes, laser technology, electromagnetic devices and much more.