TOMSK SCIENTISTS IN THE STUDY OF GOLD POTENTIAL IN SIBERIA

A. M. Kuzmin

In the second half of the last century, the general growth of the country’s economy, the growth of its industry, the solution of the agrarian problem through the resettlement of part of the peasantry to the outskirts of the country, and the need to protect the borders of the Far East compelled the Russian government to take serious interest in the outlying regions of the state, including the vast territories of Siberia. Various commissions were created for the development of Siberia as a whole and for the defense of the East. The government decided to build the Trans-Siberian Railway, the implementation of which began in the 1880s–1890s and was completed at the beginning of our century.

In Siberia itself, with its extremely weakly developed local industry, the only industrial object was gold, whose main deposits were located chiefly in the territory of the Urals and on Siberian land. In the second half of the last century, interest in gold and its deposits grew rapidly. Private capital, through the creation of joint-stock companies for the exploitation of gold-bearing deposits, individual owners of placers and mines, lone prospectors (“ore-knowers”), and their artels developed the gold-mining regions of Siberia, worked gold deposits, and, expanding their searches, drew ever new gold-bearing areas into the orbit of industrial attention.

The study of gold deposits by the Ministry of Industry and Trade was reduced to the collection of statistical data on the extraction of gold from its primary and especially placer deposits. Geological investigations of the gold deposits of Siberia before 1890 were of a casual nature. The rare expeditionary studies that were carried out, covering vast areas, provided material only for general geological conceptions of the structure of the territories surveyed and touched only incidentally on questions relating to gold deposits.

In the 1880s–1890s, a university (1881–1888) and a technological institute (1894–1900) were opened in the city of Tomsk, whose duties included the training of qualified personnel for other public needs.

From 1888–1890, systematic studies began along the Trans-Siberian Railway, for which, above all, information was required on construction materials and local fuel bases (depos-

deposits of hard coal) and geological data on the character of the structure of the sections along the route itself. These works were organized by the Geological Committee with the involvement of local geologists; A. M. Zaitsev, V. A. Obruchev, and A. N. Derzhavin took part in them. In parallel with the works just mentioned, geological investigations, commissioned by the Ministry of Industry, began in the gold-bearing regions of Siberia—namely in the Yenisei, Lena, and Amur–Primorye regions. Of the Tomsk scholars, only V. A. Obruchev took part in these works. However, these studies did not cover the obviously gold-bearing regions of most of the Kuznetsk Alatau, the northern part of Altai, Salair, and Transbaikalia. Later, the Mining Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade carried out technical-economic and statistical studies of the gold-bearing districts of Siberia. Among university scholars, L. L. Tove took part in these works.

In the pre-Soviet period, A. M. Zaitsev, V. A. Obruchev, P. P. Gudkov, M. A. Usov, and B. L. Stepanov took part, on assignment from joint-stock companies and private owners of mines and placers, in the study of individual gold-bearing areas and individual gold deposits.

A. M. Zaitsev, one of the first geologists and a professor of Tomsk University, beginning in 1888 took the most active part in the systematic study of the geology and gold potential of the mountainous part of Western Siberia. He carried out repeated investigations* of a large number of gold-bearing placers in the system of the Yaya and Kiya rivers, as well as in the basin of the Tom River and its right and left tributaries, especially along the Balyksu and Kondoma rivers. For the upper part of the Kondoma River basin, geological data are presented, placer deposits are described, and information is given on the gold content in the gold-bearing beds.

On the eastern slope of the Kuznetsk Alatau, A. M. Zaitsev, as a result of his investigations, describes the geology and the conditions of gold content of placer deposits of a number of placers located in the basins of the Bely and Cherny Iyus rivers and in the system of the Uibat and Bey rivers.

Along with describing gold-bearing placers, A. M. Zaitsev paid special attention to the geology of primary gold deposits, the character of quartz veins, the distribution of gold within them, their relation to the enclosing rocks, and their connection with magmatic formations. Thus, among the primary deposits in the Achinsk–Minusinsk district, A. M. Zaitsev studied the geology and genesis of the gold of the Bogomdarovanny mine, the Dumny mine, and the Ioanovsky mine on the Sara-Yus River; in the Mariinsk taiga—the Tsentralny, Lotereiny, 6th Berikulsky, and other mines; and in the southern part of the Kuznetsk Alatau, primary deposits in the region of the Balyksu River and the Kondoma River. A. M. Zaitsev linked the genesis of primary gold deposits with syenites, diorites, and rocks that had undergone greenstone alteration and metamorphism. He closely connected the gold itself with quartz veins, which were the main source of gold in placers. He also described the largest gold nugget, weighing 1 pood 36 pounds 6 zolotniks (31.36 kg), found in 1878 on the Chibizhek River in the Kizir River system. This nugget was accompanied by other, smaller nuggets. Another large gold nugget was found in 1904 in the Sayan–Altai mountain country, in the system of the Lebed River, at the Vorontsov gold deposit.

* The bibliography of the printed works of the higher-education scholars of Tomsk was fully reflected in V. A. Obruchev’s major work The History of the Geological Study of Siberia, Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow–Leningrad, 1937.

This last gold nugget, weighing 1 pood 20 f. 74 zol. (24.88 kg), was also accompanied by a number of native-gold nuggets of smaller size.

The information reported by A. M. Zaitsev on deposits of placer and primary gold, as V. A. Obruchev (1937) notes, was brief and at times rather incomplete; nevertheless, in his articles one can find many interesting and useful data on the nature and composition of the gold-bearing veins of the deposits he examined, on the conditions of occurrence, and on their gold content. These data are valuable because they were collected in the first years of development of the deposits and characterized the oxidation zone, which later researchers in many cases could no longer see. Also of interest are data on gold-bearing placers concerning mines or plots that had long since been worked out, i.e., lost as objects for new supplementary investigations.

In the period from 1888 to 1912, V. A. Obruchev dealt with questions of the gold content of Siberia. He devoted much energy, labor, and knowledge to solving this problem and introduced much that was new and concrete into the methodology for studying this group of mineral resources. From 1890 he began studying the geological structure and the composition of the rocks composing the Olekma–Vitim mountain country, and after a long interruption connected with investigations in Mongolia and China, he completed the study of this country in 1901. As a result of processing an enormous body of material, he published fundamental works on the geology of the Lena gold-bearing district; a close connection was established between placer gold and the formation of glacial deposits, while the genesis of the gold itself was closely linked with the presence of a system of thin quartz veinlets cutting the schists, and with gold-bearing pyrite.

The results of his study of gold potential, carried out both through personal acquaintance with deposits and by summarizing extensive published material on the geology of regions and of particular deposits, as well as statistical information on the mining and metallurgical industry of Siberia published by the Mining Department, enabled V. A. Obruchev—while at the same time responding to the demands of the rapidly growing gold industry—to write A Geological Survey of the Gold-Bearing Districts of Siberia, which appeared in parts in 1909, 1910, 1915, 1923, and 1924. In this fundamental work he presents general information on the history of bringing gold-bearing districts into the sphere of industrial attention. For each district he described, its geological structure is given, and the principal indicators associated with gold production and characterizing each district in industrial terms are cited. Special attention is devoted to the question of the genesis of gold in placer and primary deposits, and views are expressed that are quite different from the ideas that had existed earlier. Later, V. A. Obruchev set forth his views on the genesis of the gold of Siberian deposits in the book Ore Deposits (1933).

Academician M. A. Usov, evaluating V. A. Obruchev’s Surveys in terms of their direction, scientific value, and great practical significance, considered them unsurpassed.

In 1910–1912, V. A. Obruchev, on instructions from various gold-mining organizations and mine owners, published a series of detailed essays concerning the gold-ore deposits of Bogomdarovannyi (Kommunar) in the Kuznetsk Alatau, the Evgrafov and Ilyinsky deposits in Transbaikalia, the Kalbinsky deposit, and others.

V. A. Obruchev’s History of the Geological Investigation of Siberia, in five volumes (the first four volumes appeared in 1931, 1933, 1934, and 1937; separate parts of the fifth volume were published later), is for geologists studying Siberia a reference book in which

those studying the geology and genesis of gold and the gold potential of Siberia will find much bibliographic information on the questions that interest them.

V. A. Obruchev continued to concern himself with questions of the geology and genesis of gold until the last days of his life and published a number of articles of great importance. Thus, in 1927 he published the article “Natural Possibilities for the Development of the Gold Industry of the USSR,” in which he discussed the distribution of gold deposits across the territory of the USSR, the age of gold-bearing placers, the types of primary gold deposits, and the reserves of gold in the Soviet Union.

Despite this very brief account of the bibliographic materials concerning the work of Academician V. A. Obruchev, his role in solving the problem of Siberia’s gold potential is enormous. In his hands the problem itself acquired concreteness in light of the further direction of research. For young geologists, the works of V. A. Obruchev will long retain their guiding and educational significance.

Among V. A. Obruchev’s pupils we should note P. P. Gudkov and M. A. Usov. The former provided detailed descriptions of “The Bogomdarovannyi Mine in the Achinsk Mining District” (1910) and “Mine No. 6, Berikulskaya Area, in the Tomsk Mining District” (1910, 1911).

M. A. Usov, in his essay “The Sarala Gold-Ore District” (1917), gives a detailed description of the geological structure of the ore field, the tectonics, and the genesis of the deposit. There he also describes the geological structure of the ore field of the mine itself and of the territory adjoining it. He provides an extensive characterization of veins diverse in form and content and determines the genesis of the gold mineralization. In V. A. Obruchev’s opinion, in this essay M. A. Usov for the first time gave a fairly complete conception of this distinctive gold deposit, corresponding to the new views.

Professor L. L. Tove should also be mentioned; together with other researchers, he produced thorough and substantial works on the statistical-economic study of the gold-bearing areas of Siberia. Thus, in 1899 he published materials on the state of the gold industry in the southern part of the Yenisei District; in 1902, for Primorskaya Oblast; and in 1905, for Amur Oblast. The published materials (reports) are accompanied by brief geological information; materials are presented on the composition and structure of alluvium along river valleys within the territories of the mines, on the placer deposits studied, and information on the thickness of the pay layer, the peats and bedrock, and the gold content in the placers. For the primary deposits of the Yenisei region, brief geological data are given on the rocks in which the quartz veins occur, their thickness, character, and gold content.

This concludes the pre-Soviet period of participation by scholars of the Tomsk higher educational institutions in the study of the gold-bearing areas of Siberia. With the beginning of Soviet power, the local Councils of National Economy took measures to preserve and encourage working placers and mines.

From the second half of the 1920s, in connection with the reconstruction of industry, interest in gold grew rapidly. Gold-mining organizations demanded that geologists and geological institutions study the geology and tectonics of areas of gold-ore deposits in order to determine their prospects, gold reserves, and to expand the search for gold deposits. Therefore, quite naturally, the role of the scientific personnel of the Tomsk higher educational institutions in the study of Siberia’s gold potential increased. Professors P. P. Gudkov and M. A. Usov took an active part in creating the Siberian Geological Committee in Tomsk, within which, under the leadership of M. A. Usov, geologists from the scientific staff of the Technological Institute and the university worked.

of the university. Thus, I. A. Molchanov carried out geological-economic studies of gold deposits in the upper half of the Kana River basin and in the territory of the Yenisei taiga. Under his leadership, in the 1920s, the Bureau for the Accounting of Mineral Resources under the Siberian Branch of the Geological Committee operated; it conducted extensive work on the geological-economic survey of a number of gold-bearing areas of Western and Eastern Siberia.

A. Ya. Bulynnikov devoted much labor and energy to the study of gold-bearing potential; he summarized his experience and knowledge in the fundamental work he published—the monograph Gold-Bearing Provinces and Gold-Ore Formations of the Altai-Sayan System, which covered many gold deposits of the Sayan-Altai region, chiefly deposits located in the Kuznetsk Alatau. This work remains of great scientific and practical significance to the present day. He published many articles describing the gold deposits of the Olkhovsko-Chibizheksky district, Martaiga, the Kommunarsky mine, the eastern slopes of the Kuznetsk Alatau, and Salair.

F. N. Shakhov, Yu. A. Kuznetsov, B. L. Stepanov, I. K. Bazhenov, and N. N. Gornostaev took part in solving the problem of the gold-bearing potential of the Yenisei taiga. In particular, in 1935 N. N. Gornostaev, together with I. A. Molchanov, directed work on the study of the Darasun gold deposit; in 1935–1936 he studied the Balei gold deposit and a number of other deposits on the left bank of the lower part of the Shilka.

Other scientists also actively participated, and continue to participate, in the study of individual gold deposits and gold-bearing areas. M. A. Zheromsky, in his time, provided a fundamental geological-mineralogical description of the Tsentralny mine. In Martaiga at the present time, gold deposits are being successfully studied by B. D. Vasiliev, V. I. Bazhenov, and A. I. Goncharenko. Since 1936 S. S. Ilyenok has been studying the gold-bearing potential of the area of the Znamenity mine, Kommunar, and the Fedorovsko-Sainzassky district in Gornaya Shoria. At present, together with colleagues, he is successfully studying the geology and genesis of gold in the Lebedsky district, which in the 1920s was studied by A. M. Kuzmin.

In the northeastern part of the Kuznetsk Alatau, A. F. Korobeinikov has studied in detail the geology, mineralogy, tectonics of the ore field, and genesis of the gold deposit of the Kommunar mine district and other adjacent gold-bearing areas.

E. N. Zykov studied and described in detail the Vesely mine in the northern part of Altai.

Outside Western Siberia, a number of researchers, following in the footsteps of V. A. Obruchev, are studying the gold-bearing potential of Transbaikalia. In 1935, researchers headed by N. N. Gornostaev and I. A. Molchanov undertook the task of studying the structure of the Darasun ore field, for which I. A. Molchanov compiled a geological map. The main features of this map have been firmly retained and are repeated on maps of more detailed scale from later surveys.

In the period 1936–1939, A. M. Kuzmin, with the participation of A. M. Nenakhov, carried out geological surveying of a large area lying between the Darasun mine and the town of Shilka. In 1938 he studied the Aprelkovsky gold deposit, which, in his opinion, had a great prospect of becoming an industrial deposit. Industry returned to this deposit again in 1965, with the active participation of the scientific consultant Prof. A. M. Kuzmin.

Under the direction of N. N. Gornostaev, in 1935–1936 studies were conducted on the geology and genesis of the Balei deposit.

gold, which was immediately given an industrial evaluation. In those same years, N. N. Gornostaev studied the geology and genesis of a number of gold-ore deposits along the lower course of the Shilka River.

In recent years, geophysical work has acquired great importance in the search for gold mineralization. In Transbaikalia, employees of the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute—L. A. Zashchinsky, I. P. Novikov, L. Ya. Erofeev, and T. I. Turysheva—are taking part in work of this kind.

An important place in the search for gold deposits is occupied by the hydrogeochemical method, developed by employees of the Department of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology of the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute, Professor P. A. Udodov and his student L. L. Shabynin.

In recent years, Professor A. M. Kuzmin has provided scientific guidance for all work on gold-related topics carried out by employees of the Geological Prospecting Faculty of the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute.

From this brief enumeration it is evident that scholars of Tomsk higher educational institutions have taken, and continue to take, an active part in solving the problem of the gold potential of Siberia. The results of their work find practical application in the life of enterprises.

For the purpose of achieving the greatest coordination of work on Siberian gold and uniting scientific workers engaged with the problem “Geology of Gold in Siberia,” a “Problem Laboratory for Gold” has been established at the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute, whose duties include convening conferences on the gold of Siberia.

The 1966 conference attracted the attention of many scientists, geologists, and production workers from scientific institutions and geological administrations. About 150 geologists took part in this conference, and 45 reports were heard. The conference was attended by scientific workers from Moscow, Sverdlovsk, Tomsk, and Novosibirsk, as well as engineers from geological administrations from the Urals to the Far East inclusive.

The next conference on the geology and geochemistry of Siberian gold, held in 1968, attracted an even larger number of participants.