Valentin Afanasyev, Chief Research Fellow at the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, gave this interview to Rough&Polished.
You are the executive in charge of the program for "Localization of undetected diamond deposits in the Siberian Platform" supervised by Rosnedra, the Russian Federal Agency for Subsoil Use. The project name speaks for itself. Could you tell us about the aims and objectives of the project in detail? For example, will you explore new territories or those which were explored earlier?
Almost all the area of the Siberian Platform available for exploration - from the Yenisei River to the Lena River and from the Laptev Sea coast to the Eastern Sayan Mountains - was explored in one way or another in different years starting from the late 1940s. But since the first commercial diamond deposits were found in Western Yakutia, the search was focused on this site. As a result, many areas, especially in the Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk Regions were virtually unstudied, while on many sites exploration was carried out in the 1950-60s and we need to repeat the procedure at the modern level, and even more recent operations which failed to discover primary diamond deposits, but revealed the presence of positive signs in the form of kimberlite indicator minerals and diamonds require another go. There are many such areas in the territory of the Siberian Platform and in many cases these are "open" areas, i.e. those in which kimberlite bodies are on the surface or covered with a thin coating of younger sediments. Although the exploration terms in such areas are simple and by tradition these areas are attributed to well explored sites, we do not share that view. This is proved by our findings in the basin of the Tyung River which allowed us to change our estimation radically upgrading it in terms of diamond content prospects for a large area in the Muno-Markhinskoye Interfluve. In the 1950s, there worked a permanent geological field party, which had a processing factory, but found only 110 diamonds and a small amount of indicator minerals mainly at one site. Subsequent stages of prospecting in the basin of the upper Tyung produced a small amount of indicator minerals giving little evidence for optimism, so in 1992 the area was classified as unpromising on the basis of generalized source materials. In 1993, thanks to Nikolai Zinchuk there was established an interdepartmental laboratory, which included some employees of our Institute working as co-executors under the programs run by ALROSA. For field work, we proposed the upper area of the Tyung assuming to solve – using even meager material probes – the question of whether the indicators and diamonds found in the basin of the Tyung belong to the Verhnemunskoye Field located 80-100 km north-east. Quite unexpectedly for us, using only washing pans, we have found a few points with high concentrations of indicator minerals and panned 16 diamonds. The following year, we discovered a glade literally stuffed with indicators and diamonds. Once again using only washing pans we recovered 71 diamonds within a week. The words "karst" and "aeromagnetic anomaly associated with karst" became the key which permitted to make systematic discoveries of diamonds and indicator minerals. At present there are no problems to obtain mineralogical materials and the joint efforts of our employees and geologists from ALROSA within light field operations produced hundreds of diamonds and a large number of indicator minerals, making it possible to dramatically improve the prospects for diamond content in this area. However, there emerged specific complicacies in terms of exploration in this territory which so far do not permit to detect the location of primary sources, but we hope that this problem may be resolved by joint efforts.
The finds were made in the earlier explored territories. What does this mean? Have you applied some unique methods?
Together with Nikolai Pokhilenko we are proud that our teachers were outstanding geologists from ALROSA, Yuri Belik and Valentin Krivonos, while with many others we worked together in the field, so our testing methodology has its roots in the school of the Amakinskaya Exploration Expedition. Actually, there is nothing unique about it. But the 1993 season made us wonder, why such different results in production operations and our work. The reason does not lie on the surface and has a number of components. First of all, while sailing down the river or on a walkover we are not tied with production plans, a time interval or testing volumes. We select the best locations for taking samples by testing small amounts of probes washing them to obtain the number of minerals necessary and sufficient to address the forecasting goals. However, those engaged in the industry are burdened with regulations and plans, which if not complied with are fraught with various consequences. The plans and specifications, theoretically aimed at quality prospecting, in practice often result in omitted optimal sampling points and discredited exploration areas. Perhaps, it was the case in the Tyung basin. Besides, our employees are well acquainted with indicator minerals and may approximately evaluate them already in the washing pan from a prospective point of view, while in the laboratory these same employees receive a complete characteristic of minerals. The Institute has a state-of-the-art analytical basis and the employees are familiar with all the necessary techniques for solving forecasting problems. Suffice it to say that it is in this Institute that Academician Nikolai Sobolev developed the mineralogical criteria of diamondiferous areas successfully applied worldwide. Finally, an important element is the great experience of our work across the world. Our employees have worked in Canada, Latin America, throughout Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia in a variety of exploration environments, including tundra, deserts, mountains, and jungle. Nikolai Pokhilenko found one of the largest diamond deposits in Canada and I have discovered a new kimberlite field in Guinea. This allows us to quickly adapt to any exploration conditions. Of great help is our fundamental knowledge of diamond geology which we continue to expand. We willingly share our knowledge and capabilities with our colleagues from ALROSA. But if earlier there were fairly regular workshops with our participation, now this work in the company has stalled. We are prepared to share our knowledge, our analytical and methodological capabilities in terms of mineralogical methods of exploration at any time and in turn to enrich our knowledge by what may be offered by ALROSA geologists in other fields of diamond geology.
Is the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences the only executor of this program or you are seeking assistance from anyone else?
Under the program, we have six subcontractors, of which four are involved in field work and two are engaged in data processing.
The mass media has already reported about the findings made by your teams. What do the first results mean?
In short, our assumptions about the prospects of a number of areas which were explored long ago or insufficiently were confirmed and we received the information necessary for predictive evaluation of the areas under study. In the new season we continue our work in some areas and we are also involved in prospecting new areas. Overall, the work goes according to plan. Our stake is on the prospects for "open" areas, as well as for new areas in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk Region.
What is your estimation of Yakutia’s mineral resources for diamonds and perhaps for other unique minerals? Do you think there will be found new diamond deposits suitable for industrial development?
The analysis of available information on the problem of diamond presence in Yakutia and in the whole of the Siberian Platform indicates a high probability of not yet found primary diamond deposits. Our research within the mentioned program confirms this statement. Until now, there were found deposits which were "screaming" about themselves, according to the figurative expression of Grigori Feinstein. Now we have to look for diamond deposits which are very quiet or even silent, although their traces are visible. Accordingly, we have to develop new exploration techniques. This is pursued by ALROSA, our Institute and other organizations in one way or another involved in predicting and exploring diamond fields. The more difficult is the task, the more urgent is the need for co-operation efforts to address it. Previously, there was the Interdepartmental Diamond Council, under which we discussed pressing issues in the diamond industry and participated in regularly held diamond meetings. Given the increasing difficulties of exploration which cannot be overcome by any single agency we deem it necessary to resume such activities. In addition, it would be highly promising to study the Tomtor deposit of rare earth elements in Northern Yakutia which could turn Russia into one of the largest exporters taking into account their current shortage in the market. The problem of its development is very complicated and could be solved within the plans for development of the Arctic Region, which is permanently mentioned by the Institute’s director Nikolai Pokhilenko.
In your view, what a modern geological exploration service should look like?
If we speak of the geological service of ALROSA, I can only express our general view of an outside observer though a very interested one: geological exploration should be focused on a final result in the form of a deposit, so respectively the central figure in this service should be the chief geologist, and not the chief accountant and planner. Hence, there are quite a number of effects which shape the face of modern exploration services. Until now we see serious systemic problems in the geological exploration complex of ALROSA. But in order to overcome them, we must recognize their existence. Only then can we discuss how to overcome them.
Can you assess the state of domestic and foreign diamond geology? Can you compare and evaluate the comparison of geological services existing in ALROSA, De Beers, BHP and Rio Tinto?
Foreign companies are not limited by national borders, and this enables them to give preference to areas with a relatively simple survey environment. However, the number of such areas is recently being reduced and the companies need to switch over to exploration under complicated conditions. Over the past decade, ALROSA made a stake on survey conducted in a difficult environment searching for kimberlites overlain by thick strata of igneous and sedimentary rocks and thus gaining considerable experience. But the company, in our view, pays insufficient attention to "open" areas. Foreign companies do a lot of high-quality analytical work. ALROSA does considerably less such work, but the level of intellectual processing of such data (including those processed with our participation) is higher, in our opinion. Perhaps that is why our geologists are in such demand abroad and successfully work there within the organizational structure of exploration process.
Once we started to talk about diamond geology on a global scale can you tell us about the prospects of finding commercial diamond deposits in other countries?
China’s prospects for diamond occurrence are not fully realized. There is a possibility to discover diamond deposits in India. Africa continues to be promising in various areas. The North-East of Canada is promising in this respect where Nikolai Pokhilenko blazed the trail for exploration. There may be diamond discoveries in Australia. In fact, all the ancient platforms preserve prospects for the discovery of diamond deposits. But we should be aware that survey conditions are getting harder and it is ever harder to find diamond deposits.
In Russia there is still one more diamond province – the Arkhangelsk Region. What are the prospects there? And what kind of risks encounter or may face diamond miners there?
So far the diamond industry there is associated with the Lomonosov Diamond Field which is a cluster of ore bodies located at a distance from the Grib Pipe. The problems related to the development of these deposits is largely associated with saponite – a specific mineral that turns water into "jelly" creating technological and environmental problems. We understood the geological nature of saponite (there is a publication on this subject), but technologists have not yet managed to fully overcome the difficulties associated with it.
Alexandr Shaburkin, Rough&Polished, Novosibirsk
