History of studying the Fedorova-Pana Layered Complex and associated Cu-Ni-PGE mineralization, Kola Peninsula, Russia

The intrusive layered complex of mafic and ultramafic rocks on the Fedorova and Pana Tundras (Tundra -a mountain in the Sami language) in the central part of the Kola Peninsula has been studied since the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Searches for Cu-Ni ores were carried out in the 30s-80s of the XX century, but no rich ores were found.Prospecting for platinum group elements (PGE) mineralization started at the end of the 20th century and led to the discovery of four PGE deposits and numerous ore occurrences.Large areas of the Fedorova-Pana Layered Complex remain poorly studied. Prospecting forCu-Ni ore in the Fedorova-Pana Layered Complex Geographical and geological survey of the Kola Peninsula was launched by expeditions of N. Kudryavtsev (1881), Ch.Rabot (1884), Finnish scientists A. Kihlman, W. Ramsay and A. Petrelius (1887-1889), topographers B.A. Rippas and P.B. Rippas (1890s) in the second half of the 19th century.In 1898 P.B. Rippas led an expedition on the south of the Kola Peninsula to the Varzuga River basin and the Fedorova-Pana Tundras area.Characteristic gabbros of dark, almost black colour, in some places influencing the magnetic needle, were discovered in the Pana Tundras (Rippas, 1899).In 1927, an expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences led by geologist N.N.Gutkova obtained the first information about intrusive rocks of the Fedorova-Pana Tundras.A geological survey at a scale of 1: 1 000 000 was carried out on the Fedorova-Pana Tundras in 1931-1932.In 1933, an expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences headed by F.P. Kharchenko carried out a geological survey at a scale of 1: 50 000 and small mining operations on the Fedorova Tundra area.Norites with sulfide dissemination were found.Prospecting for Cu-Ni ores on the Fedorova-Pana Tundras started in 1934-1941.The Severonikel plant was constructed during these years near Monchegorsk.It was established to process the rich Cu-Ni ore from vertical sulfide veins of the Monchegorsk Layered Complex.In addition to the rich ores of Monchegorsk, the Fedorova-Pana ore was assumed to increase the Cu-Ni ore reserves in the central part of the Kola Peninsula.In 1939, D.V. Shifrin discovered Pt and Pd in a total amount of 0.5 to 2 ppm in individual samples from sulfide-bearing gabbronorites of the Fedorova intrusion.However, the data raised no interest in those years.The reserves of Cu-Ni ores in the Fedorova intrusion were insufficient for industrial development, thus the work was pretermitted.In the 1940s-70s, the study of the Fedorova-Pana intrusion geology and the search for rich Cu-Ni ores were continued.In 1960, the entire territory of the Fedorova-Pana intrusion was covered with aeromagnetic and airborne gamma surveys at a scale of 1: 50 000.Geophysical work and numerous drilling works were carried out.S.M. Chikhachev discovered poor sulfide dissemination in the "banded complex" (the Lower Layered Horizon) of the Pana Tundras Ridge in 1961.The find preconditioned complex geological and geophysical works organized by the North-Western Geological Department of the USSR Ministry of Geology.The works were carried out by V.V.