The Rganovo Fe–Ni Deposit: An Example of the Reworked Lateritic Weathering Crust in the Vardar Ophiolite Zone

The Rganovo deposit (Republic of Macedonia) is a typical representative of unique reworked lateritic Fe– Ni deposits in the well-known Vardar ophiolite zone of the Balkan Peninsula (Fig. 1). The Rganovo mine was developed over 30 years with brief gaps. Since the 1980s, approximately 11.2 million tons of ores with an average nickel content of 0.92–0.94% were produced by this mine. During the last two years, ore reserves at deep levels of the deposit were thoroughly reassessed. These works were accompanied by scientific investigations, which made it possible to analyze the new geological data, study the mineralogical–geochemical properties of ores from this deposit using advanced analytical methods, and specify, based on these materials, their formation model