26 February 2020
Никулин

A.I. Nikulin - PhD and TsNIGRI veteran

On February 23, 2020, A.I. Nikulin, PhD and TsNIGRI veteran, celebrates his 90th anniversary.

Most of his life he was involved in the national mineral base buildup and reproduction. After graduating from the Moscow Institute of Base Metals and Gold (1953), his track record included 8 years of work as a shift foreman at Amurzoloto operation, then he became the technical director of Tokur gold plant. From 1962 to 1970, he worked in TsNIGRI. In Tula branch, he managed and directly participated in designing laboratory and pilot processing plants, which allow for comprehensive studies related to mineral processing and data acqusition to develop conditions feasibility of exploration-stage deposits and design concentrators.

In 1970, A.I. Nikulin was transferred to VNIIprozoloto (Moscow) where he was chief of laboratory and Deputy Director. In this institute, he continued to design precious metal ore treatment technologies. In 1981, he was elected head of TsNIGRI mineral processing department. In 1988-1990, he was sent to Ethiopia to produce gold at a local deposit. From 1991 to 2015, he was head of precious metal and diamond ore and sand processing.

A.I. Nikulin is among top experts in mineral processing. He contributed to designing efficient technologies of base and precious metal recovery from ores at over 40 deposits (Muruntau, Olympiadinskoye, Kyuchus, Mayskoye, Nezhdaninskoye, Sukhoi Log, etc.). They formed a basis for ore reserve estimation in SRC and development of technological regulations for industrial plant design.

A.I. Nikulin was actively involved in design and development of new processing equipment and technologies. He coauthored methodical recommendations for various gold-bearing material assessment, published over 200 papers; he also has 16 copyright certificates and patents. His scientific and production achievements were rewarded by various orders and medals, diplomas and certificates of excellence.

We congratulate A.I. Nikulin on his anniversary, wish him good health, work success and happy family life.