The Chiatura manganese deposit (Georgian: ჭიათურის მანგანუმის საბადო, romanized: ch’iaturis manganumis sabado; Russian: Чиатурское марганцевое месторождение, romanized: Chiaturskoye margantsevoye mestorozhdeniye) is located near the Dzirula Massif,[2] located in central-western Georgia in the Imereti region west of the national capital Tbilisi.

[4][5] It consists mainly of sedimentary rocks of Mesozoic and Paleogene-Neogene age, which have a subhorizontal occurrence at an angle of 1-6° with a dip to the northeast.

[2] The deposit was discovered in 1879 by the Georgian poet Akaki Tsereteli[7] who explored the area in search of manganese and iron ores.

In 1924, while Vladimir Lenin's New Economic Policy was in effect, American financier W. Averell Harriman invested $4 million to revive production through his own Georgian Manganese Company.

A significant part of the territory of the city of Chiatura is covered with waste from manganese ore production, which creates a tuberculate, hilly relief.