Геофизические методы при поисках месторождений бокситов начали применяться в Советском Союзе и за рубежом свыше 20 лет назад. Многие методические вопросы долгое время оставались недо­статочно изученными. Это приводило к большим непроизводительным затратам и задерживало развитие применения геофизических методов и открытие новых месторождений бокситов.

Recently, short-lever fast-acting gradientometers are beginning to be used in gravity exploration. Observations with the gradientometer are made rather quickly, but the accounting of the influence of the terrain is labor-intensive, time-consuming and often insufficiently accurate. When the relief is developed, errors in determining corrections for its influence have a decisive effect on the total error of anomalous values of gravity gradients.

In the summer of 1933, the gravimetric team of the Scientific Research Sector of the Leningrad Mining Institute carried out experimental work using the gravimetric method on the iron ore deposits of the Kola Peninsula in the Zaimandrovskii region. The results of work using the gravimetric method show that this method gives excellent results when working in the area of iron ore deposits of the Kola Peninsula, despite the extremely difficult working conditions due to the highly developed topographic surface relief, the influence of the underground relief of bedrock, the heterogeneous structure of glacial deposits and the technical difficulties of making observations in northern conditions. The gravimetric exploration method in combination with magnetometric and shaft‑prospecting works provides great opportunities for both detailed geological mapping and the search for rich hematite ores. Scientific Research Sector, Leningrad Mining Institute.