The National Environment Agency of Georgia said specialists from the Geology Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture had conducted geological planning works between 2023 and 2024 across several western regions of the country to produce the first full set of state maps for minerals and tectonic data for the locations since the 1980s.

The Agency said works covered cities and towns in western Georgia’s Imereti, Samegrelo, Racha-Lechkhumi, Kvemo Svaneti, and Guria regions.

A corresponding geological report was also compiled, providing information about the geological conditions within the target areas.

Between 2014 and 2023, only partial geological maps were completed for the country’s central, eastern and southeastern Kakheti, Kvemo Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Shida Kartli,  southern Samtskhe-Javakheti and western Racha-Lechkhumi, Kvemo Svaneti, Imereti, and Guria regions, the Agency said.

The report serves as a basis for all fields of geology, including natural geological processes, groundwater and minerals, and is “of particular importance” for “managing geological problems” in the country, it added.