An employee of VSEGEI was awarded the Discoverer of Mineral Deposit badge

On December 24, 2020, by the Order of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Shishkin, VSEGEI Deputy General Director for Regional Surveys was awarded the Discoverer of Mineral Deposit badge for the discovery and exploration of the Parnokskoye manganese ore deposit in the Komi Republic.

Mikhail Shishkin graduated from the Geological Faculty of the Leningrad State University. Prior to joining VSEGEI, from 1979 to 2003, he worked in leadership positions in the divisions of Polarnouralgeologiya, MIRECO, and Komigeologiya. He occupied positions from a geologist to the head of a geological exploration party. Mikhail Shishkin has a great experience in conducting additional site exploration (ASE)-50, ASE-200, prospecting and exploration.

In 1987, while additional site exploration-50 of the Grubeinsky Area, Mikhail Shishkin discovered, described and tested the first ore occurrence of carbonate manganese ores on the Pachvozh Creek (later on, the Ust-Pachvozh Prospect of the Parnokskoye deposit). Later, at the direction of Mikhail Shishkin, the geophysicist of the party E.D. Bril made ground-based referencing of aeromagnetic anomalies associated with ore zones, on the basis of which Mikhail Shishkin chose a site for first confirmatory exploration-and-coring wells, which penetrated manganese oxide ores, mapped by the geologist of the party I.Yu. Kurzanov.
The fact of discovery was recorded in the report on the task: “Geological additional exploration at a scale of 1:50,000 of the Grubeinsky Area, sheets Q-41-75-C, G, 87-A, B, C, D. Vorkuta, 1988, 1124 p. (authors: Shishkin M.A., Dembovsky B.Ya., Lapshin N.V. et al.). In 1988-1996, the Pachvozh Exploration Party under the leadership of Mikhail Shishkin, carried out exploration and appraisal and preliminary prospecting of the most economically significant Magnitny-1 Prospect (Shishkin M.A., Oberman N.G., Oliferuk A.F. et al., 1995), according to the results of which manganese ore reserves for open mining of the Magnitny-1 Prospect of the Parnokskoye deposit, in the amount of 1,620.5 thousand tons (indicated + inferred) were included in the State balance sheet of the Russian Federation (Minutes No. 6, meeting of the Section on Reserves of Solid Minerals of the Komi Republic Territorial Commission on Reserves of Minerals and Groundwater of June 20, 1995).
In the Magnitny-2 and Ust-Pachvozhsky prospects, the reserves calculated from results of exploration and assessment, were approved by Minutes No. 24 of the Republic of Komi Committee for Mineral Reserves dated 20.03.1998, in the open pit contour for the Magnitny-2 Prospect (954 thousand tons of indicated reserves) and for the Ust-Pachvozhsky Prospect (1437.3 thousand tons of inferred reserves) and also included in the State Balance of the Russian Federation. Reserves of deep horizons of inferred manganese and minor magnetite ores for underground mining are classified as non-commercial ores and comprise 12,260 thousand tons of carbonate manganese ores, 12,593 thousand tons of iron ores (including 158 tons of germanium); prognosticated resources: 551 thousand tons of oxidized manganese ores, 11203 thousand tons of high-grade carbonate manganese ores, 7749 thousand tons of iron ores. In addition, on the flanks and in deep horizons of the deposit, prognosticated + speculative resources were calculated: 28849 thousand tons of low-grade (10-15% Mn) carbonate manganese ores and 3429 thousand tons of iron ore.

The VSEGEI stuff cordially congratulates Mikhail Shishkin and wishes him further success in his difficult, and very interesting and important work for the benefit of our country!