The main mass of 272.3 kilograms (600 lb) was found during a survey in June 1967 by geologist F. A. Mednikov. The mass was a triangular-shaped thumbprinted meteorite lying among the stones of the brook bed. A second specimen of 51 kilograms (112 lb) was found with a mine detector at a distance of 20 m from the first in October 1967 by I. H. Markov. The main mass was turned over to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
During a new expedition in 2004, Dmitri Kachalin recovered about 50 kilograms (110 lb) of new material. Remarkably, about 20% of the new specimens were found to contain olivine crystals,[2] and so revealed the silicated nature of the meteorite. The pallasitic structure was not previously discovered during studies on small metal-only sections of the original mass.