#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The Big Norilsk’s geology dates back to the USSR NKVD Norilsk Combine’s Geological Department history from May 25, 1944. Over 80 years of work, geologists in the Norilsk geological region have found 701 minerals, of which more than 30 were discovered for the first time. Some of them got names with a geographical reference – putoranin, taimyrit, norilskite, haraelahit. Others were named after prominent geologists – urvantsevite, maslovit, godlevskite, zvyagintsevite, kravtsovite, genplesite. During exploration, the remains of ancient marine life and even dinosaurs are found.
Currently, geologists have got many projects in development. For example, not long ago, they carried out drilling work 150 kilometers north of Talnah – on the northern spurs of the Haraelah plateau. Cores from all drilling rigs of Nornickel Technical Services LLC are brought to the warehouse. There are many samples; specialists enter the core documentation of each well into electronic databases.
Sergey Erykalov, Nornickel Technical Services LLC’s project management director, spoke to questions about the geologists’ work in modern conditions. Today, the company carries out a wide range of work to replenish the mineral resource base, search for and involve in the development of new mineral reserves, operational exploration at the mines of the Nornickel Polar Branch and in Medvezhy Rouchey, aimed at preparing for the ore reserves extraction.
The enterprise’s functions also include engineering and geological surveys for the construction of buildings and structures, environmental monitoring of the groundwater state and geological and economic assessment of mineral resources.
“The search for new deposits is carried out in the regions where Nornickel operates to provide enterprises with ore reserves and auxiliary raw materials for the main production – construction materials, technological components for metallurgical and mining production. The search for additional sources of mineral raw materials is actively carried out in the Norilsk industrial region, and since 2020, also in the Trans-Baikal region”, said Sergey Erykalov.
In addition to searching for minerals for Nornickel’s main production, the company’s geologists are now identifying associated minerals – these are limestones for cement production, anhydrites and building stone for filling mined space in underground mines, quartz sand as a metallurgical flux.
“The most effective projects in this area include exploration of the Mokulaevskoye limestone deposit, reassessment of the basalt reserves of lake Lesnoye, additional exploration of the Gorozubovskoye anhydrite deposit, and identification of the Gribanovsky island’s sands. Exploration of the Gribanovskoye deposit in 2021 made it possible to provide the company’s metallurgical enterprises with technological flux raw materials for a period of more than 60 years”, the speaker added.
“In recent years, the company has been actively developing additional geological exploration of ore deposits during the construction of underground capital workings, which is a new area of work. The use of this scheme has made it possible in the last two years to clarify the flank reserves of the Octyabrsky and Skalisty mines’ deposits”, said Sergey Erykalov.
Nornickel Technical Services has introduced a new line of production activity – geomechanical studies of rock masses have been included in the process of additional exploration of deposits. They include an integrated approach to determining the properties of the array according to international requirements for various stages of design.
“The results make it possible to determine structural, hydrogeological and geomechanical conditions that can affect the design parameters of excavation units and the stability of future mine workings”, the speaker explained.
The most important area for the Nornickel’s Norilsk Division and Nornickel Technical Services LLC is operational exploration at the mines of the Nornickel Polar Branch and Medvezhy Rouchey enterprize. Its main purpose is detailed geological exploration of mining enterprises’ reserves, allowing for their effective development. The efficiency of this work is high.
“Every year, as a result of operational exploration, an increase in reserves of non-ferrous and precious metals is achieved, as a rule, equivalent to the discovery of new deposits of medium size – for copper and nickel, large size – for the amount of platinum group metals”.
Since 2020, Nornickel Technical Services has been monitoring soils and permafrost zones at industrial sites. To ensure timely detection of soil degradation, the enterprise has created a unit for monitoring the soils and industrial facilities’ foundations’ condition, which is part of the general geotechnical monitoring system in the Norilsk Division.
Nornickel Technical Services is the largest geological exploration company. Specialists use the accumulated over decades traditions and experience of several geological exploration and mining enterprises in Norilsk. Today, the vector of work is increasingly shifting towards the implementation of geological exploration work in any region of Russia.
Today the company is implementing a new direction of geological and economic analysis and assessment of mineral resources. Geologists are providing methodological support to company divisions using three-dimensional mining and geological information systems and bringing information about deposit reserves into formats accepted in the international financial sphere.
It is worth adding that new work tools, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic core documentation and optical televiewers, are now significantly increasing the geologists’ work efficiency. Unmanned aerial vehicles allow for aerial photography and aerial exploration, which helps identify geological features faster and more accurately. Electronic core documentation simplifies the process of storing and analyzing rock samples, and an optical televiewer helps study the well walls in high resolution at any depth both in water and in air, which makes it possible to most accurately and objectively assess their condition. All these innovations, together with the traditional “mind and hammer” approach, make the geologists’ work more efficient and accurate.
Previously, we told how the mount Rudnaya was first explored. Earlier, a new mineral was discovered in Norilsk – genplesite. Genplesite – aqueous hydrosulfate of calcium and tin – was found in sulfide chalcopyrite ore of the Octyabrsky mine. It was discovered by the deputy chief surveyor of the mine, Gennady Plesin, and the new mineral was named in his honor. Genplesite is the thirtieth mineral discovered in the Norilsk industrial region over the past 75 years.
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Text: Angelika Stepanova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division’s press service
