is a Soviet and Russian scientist in the field of mining sciences (integrated development and conservation of the Earth’s subsoil, development of solid mineral deposits). Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation (1992), Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1997), laureate of the President of the Russian Federation Prize in the field of education.
He graduated with honors from the Moscow Mining Institute (today the Mining Institute of NUST MISIS) in 1956, receiving the qualification of a mining engineer. After graduation he worked in the mining and chemical industry. In 1958, he entered full-time graduate school at the Institute of Geodynamics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, from which he graduated with a Ph.D. thesis on the topic “Study of the system of forced floor collapse”[2].
From 1961 to 1969 – junior and then senior researcher at this institute. In 1969, he was transferred to work as a senior researcher in the sector of physical and technical mining problems of the Institute of Physics of the Earth named after. O. Yu. Shmidt of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In 1977, after the creation of the Institute for Problems of Integrated Subsoil Development of the USSR Academy of Sciences (IPKON RAS) on its basis, he was elected to the position of head of the laboratory of the theory of design of underground mining for complex subsoil development. Currently working at IPKON RAS as a chief researcher in the Department of Subsoil Development Design Theory. Manages the implementation of research to create improved methods for designing the basic parameters of mining systems, integrated development and conservation of the Earth’s subsoil during the development of solid mineral deposits.
In the 1980s–1990s, he led the implementation of a number of major research projects related to regional and national problems in the field of subsoil development. For his work during this period, in 1982 he was awarded the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “for research and justification of directions for the development of the mineral resource base and the technical re-equipment of underground mines and quarries.” In 1991, he was awarded the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “for the development and implementation of new technologies that reduce losses in the subsoil and improve the quality of marketable products during underground mining of ores in the Krivoy Rog basin.”
In 1986, he defended his doctoral dissertation “Determination of the production capacity of underground mines in a mining region during technical re-equipment.”
In 1994, he was approved as chairman of the section on problems of KMA of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on problems of mining sciences, and is also deputy chairman of this council.
On May 30, 1997, the general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences elected him a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the department of geology, geophysics, geochemistry and mining sciences (development of solid minerals).
In 2001, as part of a team of authors, he became a laureate of the Government of the Russian Federation Prize for the development and large-scale industrial implementation of combined technologies for the integrated development of copper and pyrite deposits in the Urals.
Laureate of the Presidential Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of education (2001) “for substantiating new directions in the field of education on rational environmental management based on the integration of university and academic science.”
In 2013, he was appointed chairman of the expert council on the problems of developing solid mineral deposits of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
As a result of many years of work on the problem of integrated development of ultra-large deposits in Russia, in 2015, as part of a team of authors, he received the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology “for large-scale industrial implementation of resource-saving, environmentally balanced geotechnology for the integrated development of deposits of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly.”
He graduated with honors from the Moscow Mining Institute (today the Mining Institute of NUST MISIS) in 1956, receiving the qualification of a mining engineer. After graduation he worked in the mining and chemical industry. In 1958, he entered full-time graduate school at the Institute of Geodynamics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, from which he graduated with a Ph.D. thesis on the topic “Study of the system of forced floor collapse”[2].
From 1961 to 1969 – junior and then senior researcher at this institute. In 1969, he was transferred to work as a senior researcher in the sector of physical and technical mining problems of the Institute of Physics of the Earth named after. O. Yu. Shmidt of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In 1977, after the creation of the Institute for Problems of Integrated Subsoil Development of the USSR Academy of Sciences (IPKON RAS) on its basis, he was elected to the position of head of the laboratory of the theory of design of underground mining for complex subsoil development. Currently working at IPKON RAS as a chief researcher in the Department of Subsoil Development Design Theory. Manages the implementation of research to create improved methods for designing the basic parameters of mining systems, integrated development and conservation of the Earth’s subsoil during the development of solid mineral deposits.
In the 1980s–1990s, he led the implementation of a number of major research projects related to regional and national problems in the field of subsoil development. For his work during this period, in 1982 he was awarded the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “for research and justification of directions for the development of the mineral resource base and the technical re-equipment of underground mines and quarries.” In 1991, he was awarded the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “for the development and implementation of new technologies that reduce losses in the subsoil and improve the quality of marketable products during underground mining of ores in the Krivoy Rog basin.”
In 1986, he defended his doctoral dissertation “Determination of the production capacity of underground mines in a mining region during technical re-equipment.”
In 1994, he was approved as chairman of the section on problems of KMA of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on problems of mining sciences, and is also deputy chairman of this council.
On May 30, 1997, the general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences elected him a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the department of geology, geophysics, geochemistry and mining sciences (development of solid minerals).
In 2001, as part of a team of authors, he became a laureate of the Government of the Russian Federation Prize for the development and large-scale industrial implementation of combined technologies for the integrated development of copper and pyrite deposits in the Urals.
Laureate of the Presidential Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of education (2001) “for substantiating new directions in the field of education on rational environmental management based on the integration of university and academic science.”
In 2013, he was appointed chairman of the expert council on the problems of developing solid mineral deposits of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
As a result of many years of work on the problem of integrated development of ultra-large deposits in Russia, in 2015, as part of a team of authors, he received the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology “for large-scale industrial implementation of resource-saving, environmentally balanced geotechnology for the integrated development of deposits of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly.”
Scientific and pedagogical activities
He heads the “ore branch” of mining sciences, as a fundamental direction created by his teacher, Academician M.I. Agoshkov, elected to the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1954. D. R. Kaplunov, based on the development of theoretical methods of calculations in mining, proposed the scientific specialty “Theoretical foundations of the design of mining systems”, which was included in the range of specialties of scientists in the section “Earth Sciences”. For more than 30 years he has been heading the Department of Subsoil Development Design Theory at IPKON RAS. The results of the scientific activities of D. R. Kaplunov were a methodology for substantiating rational methods and parameters for underground and combined development of ore deposits, optimization of the production capacity of mines, their technical re-equipment, principles for the development of ore deposits in the full cycle of integrated development and conservation of subsoil. He introduced the concept of a mining technical system as a set of technological subsystems of mineral extraction and corresponding mining structures in interaction with the subsoil areas being developed[3]. A classification of mining systems has been created and used in design, allowing one to choose a rational option for subsoil development depending on the mining and geological conditions of development.
He justified the choice of the main parameters of underground mines, taking into account the influence of the stability of the quality of the extracted raw materials not only on the production indicators, but also on its subsequent processing. He established the areas of application of mining technologies and mechanization tools, taking into account the balanced development of the mining and engineering industries. D.R. Kaplunov played an important role in the formation of modern mining sciences as a system of knowledge about the technogenic transformation of the Earth’s interior, their classification, justification of new content and tasks for the future [4]. He and his students theoretically substantiated and experimentally proved the effectiveness of the general design of mines, taking into account all stages of their development (open-pit, combined, underground geotechnologies). The necessity of organizing a closed circulation of mineral matter within mining systems during the transition from the development of mineral extraction technologies to the paradigm of rational technogenic transformation of subsoil during their development has been proven.
The scope of David Rodionovich’s scientific interests includes issues of strategic development of Russian mining complexes, taking into account their interaction with the environment. He is the author of the Concept of the State Strategy for Ensuring the Environmental Safety of Subsoil Development, which has found wide public recognition. At IPKON RAS, D. R. Kaplunov laid the foundation and, under his leadership, conducted fundamental research in key and fundamentally new directions in the development of mining sciences:
• laid the scientific foundations for the design of newly built and reconstructed mining enterprises with an underground mining method, taking into account the requirements of the scale of production and the complexity of subsoil development;
• methods for scientific forecasting the development of underground mines have been justified and implemented, taking into account their periodic technical re-equipment;
• a fundamentally new approach to the design of mining enterprises has been developed in mining sciences, based on the selection of parameters of mining technical systems based on the totality of generated mineral and raw material flows in various combinations of their volumes, purpose and quality stability, ensuring a given production capacity at various stages of the enterprise’s existence;
• methods for designing mining systems have been developed in terms of taking into account natural and man-made risks associated with the implementation of combined geotechnologies;
• for the first time, the idea of transferring the surface infrastructure of a mining enterprise to underground space was implemented. For this purpose, the parameters of development systems with backfilling of mined-out space using mobile installations are justified.
Concurrently, he has been working as a professor at the Mining Institute of NUST MISIS for more than 40 years.
He heads the “ore branch” of mining sciences, as a fundamental direction created by his teacher, Academician M.I. Agoshkov, elected to the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1954. D. R. Kaplunov, based on the development of theoretical methods of calculations in mining, proposed the scientific specialty “Theoretical foundations of the design of mining systems”, which was included in the range of specialties of scientists in the section “Earth Sciences”. For more than 30 years he has been heading the Department of Subsoil Development Design Theory at IPKON RAS. The results of the scientific activities of D. R. Kaplunov were a methodology for substantiating rational methods and parameters for underground and combined development of ore deposits, optimization of the production capacity of mines, their technical re-equipment, principles for the development of ore deposits in the full cycle of integrated development and conservation of subsoil. He introduced the concept of a mining technical system as a set of technological subsystems of mineral extraction and corresponding mining structures in interaction with the subsoil areas being developed[3]. A classification of mining systems has been created and used in design, allowing one to choose a rational option for subsoil development depending on the mining and geological conditions of development.
He justified the choice of the main parameters of underground mines, taking into account the influence of the stability of the quality of the extracted raw materials not only on the production indicators, but also on its subsequent processing. He established the areas of application of mining technologies and mechanization tools, taking into account the balanced development of the mining and engineering industries. D.R. Kaplunov played an important role in the formation of modern mining sciences as a system of knowledge about the technogenic transformation of the Earth’s interior, their classification, justification of new content and tasks for the future [4]. He and his students theoretically substantiated and experimentally proved the effectiveness of the general design of mines, taking into account all stages of their development (open-pit, combined, underground geotechnologies). The necessity of organizing a closed circulation of mineral matter within mining systems during the transition from the development of mineral extraction technologies to the paradigm of rational technogenic transformation of subsoil during their development has been proven.
The scope of David Rodionovich’s scientific interests includes issues of strategic development of Russian mining complexes, taking into account their interaction with the environment. He is the author of the Concept of the State Strategy for Ensuring the Environmental Safety of Subsoil Development, which has found wide public recognition. At IPKON RAS, D. R. Kaplunov laid the foundation and, under his leadership, conducted fundamental research in key and fundamentally new directions in the development of mining sciences:
• laid the scientific foundations for the design of newly built and reconstructed mining enterprises with an underground mining method, taking into account the requirements of the scale of production and the complexity of subsoil development;
• methods for scientific forecasting the development of underground mines have been justified and implemented, taking into account their periodic technical re-equipment;
• a fundamentally new approach to the design of mining enterprises has been developed in mining sciences, based on the selection of parameters of mining technical systems based on the totality of generated mineral and raw material flows in various combinations of their volumes, purpose and quality stability, ensuring a given production capacity at various stages of the enterprise’s existence;
• methods for designing mining systems have been developed in terms of taking into account natural and man-made risks associated with the implementation of combined geotechnologies;
• for the first time, the idea of transferring the surface infrastructure of a mining enterprise to underground space was implemented. For this purpose, the parameters of development systems with backfilling of mined-out space using mobile installations are justified.
Concurrently, he has been working as a professor at the Mining Institute of NUST MISIS for more than 40 years.
