RATIONALE FOR CHOOSING OF ORGANIC SAPROPEL DEPOSITS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT IN ORDER TO OBTAIN MARKETABLE PRODUCTS
Based on fund and archival materials of peat and sapropel resources of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus, design institutes for water management (DIWM) and the fuel industry ("Belgiprotorf"), field studies of the SSI "Institute of Nature Management of the NAS of Belarus", an analysis and assessment of the resources of organic sapropel occurring in peatlands exit of exploitation was carried out. In total, geological surveys of various categories revealed 224 peatlands exit of exploitation, where, along with other types of sapropel, there is organic sapropel, the total volume of which is 162.6 million m<sup>3</sup>. Depending on the ratio of areas occupied by sapropel and peat deposits, thickness and quality composition, sapropels are divided into three groups according to the conditions of extraction: very promising, promising and conditionally promising. It has been established that sapropel of an exclusively organic type lies under the layer of the remaining peat at 26 deposits. Based on the information received, a database of organic sapropel was developed in the Microsoft Excel program and a scheme for placing its deposits on peatlands exit of exploitation of the Republic of Belarus. The raw material bases of organic sapropel buried under peat were identified and characterized, which are the most promising for development in the near future, from the entire list of deposits, as a result of the analysis.