Polkin, Stepan Ivanovich

Stepan Ivanovich Polkin was born in 1904 in a peasant's family in the village of Shirokiy Ubedad, Balandinsky District, Saratov Region . In 1925, after graduating from the labor school in Saratov, he was enrolled in the Moscow Mining Academy , which he graduated in 1930, and then entered graduate school at the department of enrichment of the newly created Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold .

In 1933, S.I. Polkin defended his thesis and, according to a special decree of the Government of the USSR “On the Creation of the Russian Tin Industry,” was sent to work as the head of the processing plant of the Onon Tin Mine in the East Siberian Territory . Since that time, all the scientific activity of Stepan Ivanovich was closely connected with the problems of the tin industry, in particular with the extraction of cassiterite from sludge by the flotation method. After returning in 1935 to the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold S.I. Polkin first worked as the head of the laboratory, then as an assistant professor in the department of mineral processing, and from 1937 to 1941. - Director of this institute.

During the Great Patriotic War, Stepan Ivanovich worked first as the director of the Gipromedruda Institute in the Urals, and then, since 1942, as the head of the Technical Department of the USSR Ministry of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy. In 1947, S.I. Polkin returned to the institute of non-ferrous metals and gold and until 1953 he worked as deputy. directors for academic and scientific work. In 1948, he created and headed the department of enrichment of ores of rare and radioactive metals. In the next 40 years, S.I.Polkin was a professor at the Department of Non-Ferrous and Rare Metals Ore of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys , in 1956–62. headed this department.

S.I. Polkin is one of the largest experts in the field of enrichment of ores of rare metals and tin. His works on the enrichment of lithium, tantaloniobium, zirconium and other rare metal ores are widely known - these are the monographs “Enrichment of lithium ores” (1957), “Flotation of pyrochlore and zircon” (1959, together with Yu.A. Bykov and G. M. Shapovalov), “Enrichment of tantalum and niobium ores” (1963, together with Law Firm Gladkikh and Yu. A. Bykov), as well as the training manual “Flotation of rare metals and tin ores” (1960), which summarizes perennial research on the enrichment of ores of rare metals and tin.

Back in 1938, S.I. Polkin together with V.N. Chumarov wrote his first textbook, “General Course for the Enrichment of Non-Ferrous Ores." In 1953, S.I. Polkin published the textbook Ore beneficiation, which was then translated into Chinese, Romanian, Korean, and other languages. From 1949 to 1951 he was published in the translation "Reference book on mineral processing" A.F. Taggart in 5 volumes, edited by S.I. Polkina. Finally, in 1967, for the first time in world literature, the textbook “Enrichment of ores and placers of rare metals” was published, which for many decades has been the handbook of many generations of students and specialists in the field of enrichment of rare metals ores (it was subsequently published in Bulgaria). The monograph “Enrichment of tin ores and placers” (1974, together with S.F. Laptev) is widely known in the world. Among his textbooks for higher education, one can also note "Enrichment of non-ferrous and rare metals ores" (1975) and "Enrichment of non-ferrous metal ores" (1983), written together with E.V. Adamov. In 1979-1980 S.I. Polkin and E.V. Adamov together with Bulgarian scientists K.P. Kovachev and N.I. Semkov published the monograph “Technology of Non-Ferrous Metal Ore Processing” in Russian and Bulgarian.

Great experience in scientific work in the field of flotation of rare metal ores and tin was summarized by S.I. In his doctoral dissertation, which he successfully defended in 1956, in the doctoral dissertation, he studied the mechanism of action of oxyhydrol collectors, which is still a classic example of the interaction of oxidized minerals with collectors and depressants.

S.I. Polkin is the founder of the scientific school for bacterial leaching of refractory ores and concentrates of non-ferrous and rare metals. The first studies of the vat of the bacterial leaching of gold-arsenic concentrates were begun in 1964-1965. together with the Institute of Microbiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (G.I. Karavayko). The internationally recognized scientific foundations of the bacterial leaching process of copper-zinc, copper-arsenic, tin-copper-arsenic concentrates and industrial products have been developed. The theory and technology of bacterial leaching of gold-arsenic refractory concentrates were first reported by S.I. Polkin in 1972 at the International Congress on Mineral Processing in Cagliar ( Italy ). This process formed the basis of the industrial technology for processing gold-arsenic concentrates, introduced at 15 largest enterprises in the world.

The results of studies of the theory and technology of the bacterial leaching process were first summarized in the world practice in the monograph “Technology of bacterial leaching of non-ferrous and rare metals”, published in 1982 together with E.V. Adamov and V.V. Panin and translated into a number of foreign languages. Under the leadership of S.I. Polkina on this subject defended about 10 candidate dissertations, received a large number of copyright certificates. The results of research in this area have been repeatedly reported at various international congresses and conferences. S.I. Polkin took an active part in the International School and the USSR / UNEP International Project "Biogeotechnology of metals as an environmentally acceptable method of rational use of mineral resources."

The results of research activities S.I. Polkina reflected in 300 publications and copyright certificates.

• Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the RSFSR (1966).
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor .
• Order of the Badge of Honor ^[1] (1939)
• medals.

Stepan Ivanovich Polkin (1904-1994) On the centenary of his birth. News of higher educational institutions. Non-ferrous metallurgy. 2004, No. 5, p. 77-79.

Polkin Stepan Ivanovich (On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth). Non-ferrous metals. 2004, No. 11, p. 114.