St. Petersburg, February 7, 2020. Geologists of the Ocean exploration survey department of Polar Marine Geosurvey Expedition JSC (PMGE, a Rosgeo subsidiary) discovered two new hydrothermal ore fields of deep-sea polymetallic massive sulfides in the Atlantic, called Korallovoye and Molodezhnoye.

The polymetallic sulfide ore samples for a total weight of about 150 kg were lifted aboard the Professor Logachev research vessel from the Korallovoye hydrothermal field at a depth of more than 3500 m.

"The expedition focused on exploring for ores in the most interesting and promising southern cluster of the Russian exploration area, where deep rocks of the Upper Mantle come to the seafloor surface and the largest polymetallic sulfide deposits could be discovered," — Dmitry Kaminsky, Managing Director of PMGE. "Three large ore occurrences have been earlier discovered in this area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. New discoveries by Rosgeo will increase the resource potential of the southern cluster within the Russian exploration area and be crucial for planning the further explorations and future field development.”

At the first stage of research in December 2019, the Professor Logachev vessel was engaged in the systematic searching for geophysical anomalies of natural electrical field that form by oxidation of sulfide ores and are an important indicator. The searching procedure was developed in PMGE; therewith, the measurements in the near-bottom part of the water layer were carried out using a special deep submergence vehicle MAK-1M made by Yuzhmorgeologiya JSC. The multiday research identified two large promising areas in close proximity to each other.

At the further stage the promising areas were explored using a deep-sea television equipment. These explorations found an extensive domal uplift with active "black smokers" – pipe formations up to 1.5 m high which emit hot suspended ore substance in the form of black smokes, as well as numerous residues of inactive pipes and sulfide ore outlets. Then, the numerous ore samples were lifted aboard the vessel using a rock dredge. It included rich massive copper ores and numerous vein-disseminated ores.

The nearest plans of the expedition are to test the open ore fields in detail using a TV grab, to study polymetallic ore samples on the vessel and in fixed-state laboratories, and to generate geological maps.



Background:

The Professor Logachev research vessel arrived at the marine exploration area in December 2019 and began to study the geological structure of an ocean floor section – 18 blocks of the Russian exploration area with a total area of about 1800 km2.

The expedition's objective is to complete a set of geological and geophysical explorations to find promising ore occurrences of deep seabed polymetallic sulfides in the axial zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge as part of the first 6-year stage of the contract made by the Ministry of Natural Resources with the International Seabed Authority in 2012 for 15 years.

Earlier the PMGE geologists examined 82 of 100 blocks of the Russian exploration area, where 12 ore sites with the forecast resources of 104.8 million tons of copper zinc and copper-pyrite specialization ores were found and studied. According to geologists, the ore in these sites contains 3 949.5 thous. tons of copper, 738.4 thous. tons of zinc, 119 tons of gold and 1 679.7 tons of silver.

Within the south cluster of the Russian exploration area including 36 blocks, the Ashadze ore cluster was opened in 2003, the Semenov ore cluster was opened in 2007, and the Irinovskoye ore field — in 2011.

Under the contract, in September 2020 it will be necessary to justify the choice of 50 potentially ore-bearing blocks and to reasonably abandon the 50 least promising ones, upon identifying the priority areas for the detailed exploration and complete geological analysis of the actual materials related to all 100 blocks of the Russian exploration area.

Rosgeo is a Russian multi-industry geological holding company, which offers a full range of geological exploration services: from regional surveys to stratigraphic drilling and subsoil monitoring. The holding company boasts a unique expertise, particularly in marine geology and shelf operations. A total of more than 1,000 fields and deposits have been discovered by the holding’s companies, including major hydrocarbon and solid mineral deposits and fields. Rosgeo is a fully state-owned company.