Mikhail (Moses) Novomeysky was born in 1873 in the Siberian village of Barguzin. Following his father, he developed an interest in mining. He graduated Irkutsk Technical School, then studied mining engineering in Royal Prussian Königsberg University, graduating in 1897 and returning to Barguzin. Unlike fellow mining scientists, Novomeysky looked towards Lake Baikal as a source of minerals and researched ways to extract them from bodies of water, and was among the pioneers of mining in Siberia. In 1900, he built a chemical factory that supplied local glassworks with refined salts.