Dear Sirs,
The Travel agency "Severny Fond " Ltd with the Urals Commitee on Geology and Bowels Usage (Uralgeocom) and Urals Geological Museum are going on with introducing the guests of Russia to mineral wealth of the Urals and Siberia.
The underground stocks of the Urals Mountains formed 500 million years ago in the place of a vast ancient ocean are unique in the number and diversity of minerals, mineral resources and precious stones. In the bowels of the Ural Mountains there are more than 1000 minerals, more than 12 thousand of precious stones.
We invite you to the Urals in 1996-1997and offer you excursions according to 2 programs.
Programme ¹ 1. The Urals in Winter.
The tour runs from November to May. Duration of the tour is 12 days.
During the tour you will familiarize yourself with the beauty of the Middle Urals in winter time of the year, the wealth and diversity of its mineral resources worked by underground method.
At the excursion, you can visit 6 mines, where gold, emeralds, copper, chromite ores, iron and salt are being mined.
You will get an opportunity to select and buy the most interesting
mineralogical material for your collection.
Among other places of interest you will be offered an excursion to the
famous ice cave in the old town of Kungur, to a slanting tower in the town Nevyansk, to the Museum of Wooden Architecture, where peasant farmsteads of 17-19 century are presented.
The Urals winter is a fine time for skiing. Driving in a Russian "troika" (three horses harnessed abreast) will make you vigorous and healthy.
The programme of the tour is for a group of 3 - 10 people.

Programme ¹ 2 . "Summer - 97"
The tour runs from June to October. Duration of the tour is 18 days.
The programme is arranged so, that a participant can see a mineralogical places of interest and collect minerals at the same time. You will be provided an opportunity to collect the following samples of minerals in the deposits of the Middle and Southern Urals: zircon, titanite, pyrochlorine, cancrinite, corundum, beryl, quarts, turmaline, chalcedony, nickel minerals, garnet-demantoite and a great variety of other minerals.
An unusually rich spectrum of minerals will allow you to form an exclusively beautiful and rare collection of minerals during your visit to the Urals.
The programme of the tour is for a group of 3-15 people.
Common Information for Programmes ¹ 1 and ¹ 2.
The tour cost includes:
- accommodation in hotels or intourist centers;
- two hot meals daily, one dry ration daily;
- transport services on the route;
- excursion services, an interpreter;
- scientific consultations on the route;
- lease mineralogical polygons (mines, disposal areas);
- cultural programme.
We guarantee you prompt discovery of customs documents for taking out
collection samples from Russia.
The tour starts from Ekaterinburg airport where you will be taken to by "Lufthanza", "Malev Airlines" or "The Urals Airlines" planes.

Applications for participation in geotour are submitteb by groups formed abroad 1month before the excursion starts. Idividual tourists are informed of the beginning of the excursion as soon as the group is formed. You may submit an application for participation in geotour or obtain any additional information in
Travel agency "Severny Fond" Ltd
fax : 007 - 3432 - 657 - 781
phone : 007 - 3432 - 657 - 781, 657 - 707
address: of.515 , 60a, Lenina av., Ekaterinburg , 620219 RUSSIA
E-mail: alfa@dialup.mplik.ru
Mr.Yuri F. Babin, Mrs. Olga A. Vyatkina, Mr. Mikhail Yu. KandaurovAttention! We are ready to negotiate with travel agencies in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland and other european countries on the question of forming groups of tourists and organizing their flight to Ekaterinburg. Now guests of Ekaterinburg have the possibility to reach the city directly through Budapest or Germany (not through Moscow). We do hope that our cooperation will be mutually beneficial. In spring we intend to organize an advertisement tour for representatives of tourist agencies interested in this proposal.

You can find below the approximate programm for the summer tour.

For dealers selling minerals! We render sevices in purchasing minerals in Russia and execute all documents necessary for taking out mineral collection abroad.

PACKAGE TOUR "URALS-SUMMER-97"
(approximate programme, available from 15th May to 15th September)

DAY 1
Arrival to Ekaterinburg. Transfer by bus (by car) to the town of Kushva (300 km). Hotel accomodation. Lunch. Meeting the guides, first instructions on the route.

DAY 2
Breakfast at the hotel. Excursion to the deposits of iron ore in the environs of the Kushva town. Lunch at the hotel. Visiting the extra-deep mine and the Mineralogical Museum. Dinner at the hotel. Entertainment and cultural programme.

DAY 3
Breakfast at the hotel. Trip to Nizjny Tagil (80 km), visiting mineral deposits in the environs of Nizjny Tagil (malachite, quartz, elite, libetenite, demidovite, chrizocolla, getite, etc.). Collecting mineral samples. Dry ration lunch. Dinner at the cafe in Nizjny Tagil. Visiting the Mineralogical Museum, a meeting with mineral collectors of the town. Back trip to Kushva.

DAY 4
Breakfast at the hotel. Next deposit on the route - the Saranovsk deposit of chrome ores (uvarovite, sphen, chrompikatite, etc.). Collecting mineral samples. In case of bad weather the programme will change for the visit of gold deposits in the environs of Nizjnaya Tura. Dry ration lunch. Dinner at the hotel.

DAY 5
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to Ufalei (500 km). Excursion around the town of Nevyansk (Demidov Works, slanting tower, etc.). Dry ration lunch. Hotel accomodation. Dinner.

DAY 6
Breakfast at the hotel. Voyage to the original deposit of demantoite in the environs of Ufalei. Collecting mineral samples. Dry ration lunch. Back trip to the hotel. Dinner. Meeting collectors of the town.

DAY 7
Breakfast at the hotel. Trip to the town of Vishnevogorsk (50 km). Deposits of zircon, apatite, phlagopite, pyrochlorine, garnet. Collecting mineral samples. Dry ration lunch. Back trip to the hotel. Dinner at the hotel.

DAY 8
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to Miass (150 km). The Miass Mineral Reserve. Accomodation in the youth tourist complex (simple conditions, without in-room facilities). Lunch. Excursion to the Ilmen Mineral Reserve, where you will get the opportunity to see many unique and beautiful stones: topaz, ilmenite, samarskite and others. Visiting the Mineralogical Museum, meeting with mineral collectors.

DAY 9
Breakfast at the tourist complex. Excursion to the famous Akhmatov Mines (for 3 hours). Dry ration lunch. Excursion to the deposit of sapphire. Collecting samples of samarskite and columbite. Back trip to the complex. Dinner.

DAY 10
Rest on the peacefull shore of the Turgoyak lake (the lake's water takes the second place in Russia for its clearance after the Baikal lake), yachting. Lunch on the shore. Dinner at the complex. In case of bad weather the programme will change for the visit of the Miasovo lake, 50 km deep in the Reserve.

DAY 11
Breakfast at the tourist complex. Transfer to the Malyshevo settlement (350 km). Hotel accomodation. Russian "banya" (sauna) and bathing in the lake.

DAY 12
Breakfast at the hotel. Visiting the Emerald Mines of the Urals. Collecting samples of beryl. Lunch at the cafe in Malyshevo. Visiting JSC Museum "Emerald Mines of the Urals", meeting collectioners, buying mineral samples. Dinner at the hotel.

DAY 13
Breakfast at the hotel. Excursion to the Bagenov deposit in the Asbest's environs. Collecting samples of garnet, chromevezuviane, vezuviane, etc. Lunch at the cafe in the town of Asbest. Dinner at the hotel. Entertainment and cultural programme.

DAY 14
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer and accomodation in the "Samotsvety" sanatorium (Alapaevsk). Lunch. Sightseeing the environs of the Rez river and the Moltaevo lake, famous for its unique mud treatment. Dinner at the sanatoruim.

DAY 15
Breakfast. Excursion to the famous Murzinka and Vatikha Mines. Collecting samples of feldspat and - if you will be lucky - of blue topaz or amethyst. Dry ration lunch. Sightseeing the monuments of wooden architecture in the settlement of Verkhnaya Sinyachikha. Dinner at the sanatorium.

DAY 16
Breakfast. Excursion to the Lipovsk nickel deposit. Collecting mineral samples (one can find rubellite, chalcedony, minerals of nickel, ruby there). Dry ration lunch. Dinner at the sanatorium. Night entertainment programme.

DAY 17
Breakfast. Excursion to Ekaterinburg. Discovery of customs documents. Dinner at the cafe. Excursion to the Beryozovsk deposit of ore gold. Dinner at the sanatorium.

DAY 18
Breakfast. Free time. Entertainment and cultural programme. Excvursion to the environs of the town Rez. Last dinner.

DAY 19
Breakfast. Departure to "Koltsovo" airport.

The terms of payment, schedule of excursions, organizational, legal and financial questions are to be settled with the head of the tourist group. 100% advance payment is anticipated.

Applications for participation in geotour are submitted by groups formed abroad 1 month