Management Company Polyus, Moscow, Russia:

D. A. Selivanov, Senior Structural Geologist, selivanovda@polyus.com

The adequate geological support and engineering of production processes requires mining companies to have structural geologists to be in charge for the acquisition, processing, analysis and preparation of geological and related data during development of a mineral deposit, starting from prospecting and exploration and up to reclaiming. In the prevailing practice, geologists of mining and servicing companies are mostly aimed at the appraisal and control of mineral resources while the study of geological structure of a deposit is assumed finished at the stage of prospecting and valuation as arule. At the later stages, geologists focus mainly on the quality and quantity of minerals, and geological bodies are often interpreted without regard to the actual geological structure of a deposit. The structural geology as a branch within a mining company should have a specific development strategy. This strategy is to account for the necessity of the other services for the input geological data, while the applied geological models should be used in mine design and be integrated in the production process. The intending specialists in the allied services should be informed on the available models, their value and completeness, as well as should possess free and intelligible access for operation. Efficient production management and risk control requires close communication between structural geologists, geomechanics, resource geologists, mining engineers, mineral dressing engineers and surveyors.

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