Rocks and minerals found in Romania

Romania has a certain particular richness in terms of rocks and minerals. This post is by no means exhaustive and given that I am no expert on the subject yet, this is just an inventory with nomenclature that I am no expert on and which I found on credible websites housed by prestigious universities in Romania.

Thus, among the native alloys of Romania we can find: iron, arsenic (spheroidal aggregates from Sacaramb and Hondol, Romania) as well as graphite, some diamond as well as samples of      tellurium, in Transylvania (Fata Baii, Alba district, Romania).

From the class of sulfides, sulfosalts and tellurides, Romania is mentioned to present minerals such as: chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena which were traditionally mined for Cu, Zn and Pb respectively as well as jamesonite and tellurides from Apuseni Mountains: petzite, sylvanite, krennerite and nagyagite.

The Romanian province of Transylvania is especially rich in halides (layers of salt rocks) while the region of Banat has the mineral called fluorite.

Rocks such as quartz (amethyst, rock crystal, smoky quartz etc.) - including fine-grained, i.e. chalcedony (e.g. agate) and massive, i.e. jasper-type varieties - and opal (precious opal, fire opal, silicified wood etc.) are also present in Romania.

With respect to magnetite and hematite category, they were traditionally mined in the Banat region (e.g. Ocna de Fier) and Masca-Baisoara, Cluj district. 

Rare twin crystals of aragonite were found in Corund, Harghita district. Lively coloured malachites (green) and azurites (blue) also have been identified. Rare borates such as ludwigite, or szaibelyite and kotoite, were discovered in Ocna de Fier (Caras-Severin district), and respectively Baita, Bihor district.

Also, crystals of celestite were found in Copaceni and Cluj whereas barite samples were identified in Baia Mare region.

Minerals such as krautite and villyaellenite were found in Sacaramb, Hunedoara district.

From the category of silicates, Romania has a few rare minerals, among which: gehlenite - the world record of crystal size (15 cm) and tilleyite, both from Vata de Sus, Hunedoara district. Various feldspar rocks (including gem varieties such as amazonite, and labradorite) were also identified in Romania.

With respect to organic minerals, amber was discovered in Colti, Buzau district and Valenii de Munte, Prahova district.

Gold is best represented is the Rosia Montana (Alba district) and other traditional mining areas in the Golden Quadrangle of the Apuseni Mountains (Bucium-Baia de Aries, Brad-Sacaramb, Zlatna-Stanija) and the Baia Mare region (Cavnic).

Limestones (sedimentary rock) and marbles (metamorphic rock), more precisely banded calcite (onyx marble)  were discovered in Corund, Harghita district), as well as several gem varieties of chalcedony (a form of quartz) and opal (mineraloid).

Information was compiled from the following link to the  Museum of Mineralogy hosted by the University of Babes-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, the second most prestigious national university of 
Romania:  
http://bioge.ubbcluj.ro/MuzeuMin/en/colectii.html

If interested in getting more information about minerals and Mineral Sciences in the Carpathian Mountains (which cross Romania), please refer to the following document about the International Conference on Mineral Sciences in the Carpathians which took place in Miskolc, Hungary, 9-10 March 2006: 
http://www.mineral.hermuz.hu/acta_05/pdf/Acta5_full.pdf

Another credible resource with respect to  mining activities in Romania is the website of the University of Bucharest - Faculty of Geology and Geophysics which lists a series of international scholars and lecturers invited to teach at the university and bring in the latest ideas about oil and shale gas extraction: 
http://www.unibuc.ro/e/facultati/geologie-geofizica/SCIENTIFIC_events.php

As a final note, new oil deposits have been discovered in the Black Sea, to which Romania has an opening. It appears that drilling activities off shore will start in 2020 and preparation are under way to set up oil rigs in the Black Sea.