Group looking for minerals on 28 Jan

[Manti]

Do we know where they looked for minerals? The diary states they only found pyrite and quartz veins (both worthless). But these wouldn't be found on the surface.. Did they enter an abandoned mineshaft? Does someone know what type of mine it was, and what ore used to be mined there?

[KFinn]

Do we know where they looked for minerals? The diary states they only found pyrite and quartz veins (both worthless). But these wouldn't be found on the surface.. Did they enter an abandoned mineshaft? Does someone know what type of mine it was, and what ore used to be mined there?

That was at the former mining camp, N2.  There had been mining there previously, when the camp was in service.  Yuri Yudin found core samples to take back to the college. 

[Manti]

It would be interesting to know what type of mineral or ore was mined there but I can't find any information on this. Is it possible it was some nuclear fuel precursor? The location seems to be in a river valley..

For example here is information about a gold mine in northern Sverdlovsk but it is easily visible on the map (it's an open pit mine): https://www.polymetalinternational.com/en/assets/where-we-operate/voro/
Around 2nd northern nothing on the map / satellite photos indicates an open pit. Must have been either an underground mine or a "leaching" one, uranium is often mined by pumping water through the rock layers but I don't know if this method was already in use in the 50s..

[KFinn]

It would be interesting to know what type of mineral or ore was mined there but I can't find any information on this. Is it possible it was some nuclear fuel precursor? The location seems to be in a river valley..

It could very well be a precursor for nuclear fuel.  There are known magnetic anomalies in the region (even at Dyatlov Pass itself.)  I don't know for certain but will do some digging to see if I can unconcerned anything. 

[KFinn]

I do like the way you are thinking here.  It may take me a day or two to get a decent response, just because I have to look into things. 

[Teddy]

The foundation of "1079" is that the Northern Geological Expedition, whose chief Sulman was the recipient of most radiograms, was looking for uranium on just in the area but on the very Dyatlov Pass. We are the first to publish the Aeromagnetic survey reports to prove it: https://dyatlovpass.com/1079#magnetic

[Teddy]

From Chapter 19. Fire in the hole:
In case of checking a gamma anomaly, given the limited capabilities, the works might be done with a method borrowed from the practice of the leasing system of excavation of the radioactive ore by the MVD of the USSR in 1945 48: “The works were conducted in the most primitive way – by manual short-hole drilling. Next, blasting out, collecting, and sifting chlopinite (aka hlopinite) – a pitch-black mineral containing uranium. Antimagnetic anti-tank mines weighing up to 5 kg were used as explosives.”
Air blasts could be used should there be any need for seismic surveying. Vladimir Ustyuzhaninov, who in the 1950s worked as a geophysicist in the Western Siberia, recalled: “To avoid a great waste of time and material assets in well-drilling, in the 1950s the Kolpashevskiy expedition came to utilizing a method of earthquake ground excitation by air blasts. The charges that were selected by trial were placed in the trees at a certain height.” Blasting operations could be employed as well in case of a need for ditching and prospect holes drilling.
Back in 1945 47, aeromagnetic surveying with simultaneous ground works became the leading method in Karelia. That was how large iron-ore deposits of Gimoskoe and Kostomukshskoe were discovered.
The Northern Ural party did not have sufficient manpower and resources for ground check of the anomalies. Hence, at Novosibirsk, they turned to the local Ivdel organization for assistance, which agreed to help. In Moscow, the extraordinary 21st party convention was underway. A chance to make a gift to the convention by opening a promising deposit would be an excellent occasion to shoot to fame, to advance in one’s career, and to make money. Under the Decrees of the Council of Ministers of the USSR №722 from May 30, 1956, and №92 from January 22, 1959, “On state monetary rewards for the discovery of new mineral deposits,” a new system of payment of government monetary rewards for the discovery of mineral deposits was introduced; it was based on the evaluation of the economic significance of the discovered deposit. The list of individuals submitted for a monetary award was compiled by an appropriate ministry (agency) based on the materials submitted by a geological or a mining industrial organization, which was involved in the exploration of the deposit.