18 January 2021

TsNIGRI submits annual report as part of federal program

FSBI TsNIGRI annual report for 2020 stating the completion of the federal program, “Thematic and experimental-methodical works – geological subsurface study”, was successfully submitted to Rosnedra. The report contains TsNIGRI work results (9 activity areas). The works were managed by A.I. Chernykh, A.I. Ivanov and E.A. Naumov. The following top experts of the national geological industry were directly involved in this work: Ya.V. Alekseev, E.E. Kotelnikov, V.S. Zvezdov, S.G. Kryazhev, A.G. Volchkov, E.A. Naumov, V.N. Khasanov, A.S. Tarasov and D.A. Kulikov.

    The main results for 2020 are listed below:
  • Diamond, gold, silver, PGM, nickel, cobalt, copper, lead and zinc mineral base status was characterized for the entire Russian Federation, federal districts and subjects; the most significant regions in terms of their input to reserves and production were recognized. Infrastructure of the selected territories, mining districts and particular DPBM MB development investment projects was reviewed;
  • Reviews were accomplished for global DPBM MB characteristics (2019-2020), MB development trends and terms of Pb, Cu, Pt and Pd sufficiency for production worldwide and international activity results by the Ministry of Natural Resources;
  • Summarized data was presented on national security indicators (NSI) for DPBM in the context of MB status and changes for 2010-2019. It was noted that the most challenging situation in terms of NSI, which were below the ultimate permissible and target values for reserves within economic categories, was for diamonds and lead and, partially, silver;
  • Information was reported on the most important exploration activities, in physical terms, to reproduce DPBM MB, mechanical core drilling (MCD) and surface mining (SM) as well as data on exploration funding by mining companies;
  • Federal VIPR (Natural Resource Reproduction and Use) program implementation was analyzed, proposals were recommended to update it, implement the ongoing projects and update projects realized as part of social and economic strategies for individual Russian regions;
  • Foreign information advances relevant to exploration and mining industries and current ideas of genesis, DPBM deposit forecasting and study features were reviewed;
  • Field experimental and methodical works were implemented within five areas related to various deposit prospecting techniques and analytical studies;
  • Six draft methodical recommendations on lead, zinc, diamond, primary and placer gold deposit prospecting and study were prepared for approval and publication;
  • A database was compiled including data on 1,080 diamond crystals from 14 economic and low-grade diamond pipes of the East European platform as well as 6 placers of Timan and the Urals;
  • Federally funded exploration sites involved mineralogical, petrographic and thermobarogeochemical studies as well as geological-genetic and ore formation mineralization typification, prospecting criteria and forecasting criteria of various mineral deposit types, and physical/chemical models of ore-forming fluid systems were designed;
  • Forecasting and prospecting models were designed for top geological and economic deposit types, work was ongoing to compile the atlas of porphyry copper and polymetallic deposit forecasting and prospecting models, criteria complexes were designed to forecast promising diamond areas;
  • Forecasting and analytical studies were performed to validate prospecting at 10 deposits and field forecasting and revision works at 5 deposits;
  • Methodical exploration support works were conducted involving data collection on current exploration results as well as recommendations on their optimization and approving materials to validate new exploration sites;
  • Expert estimation and resource approval were carried out for 77 deposits (5 minerals);
  • Materials were prepared for systemizing technical and economic development indicators for the studied Russian DPBM deposits similar to those around the world. Initial efforts were made to design a concept and performance principles of an information and analytical system (IAS) and web application to ensure the operation of a monitoring system for technical and economic indicators of similar deposit development;
  • The required information and analytical materials for DPBM were compiled as part of the federal report by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.