#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. During Vladimir Dolgih’s work at the Norilsk plant, Talnah and Snezhnogorsk, Messoyaha and Solenoye appeared. Under him, the gasification of the Norilsk industrial district began, the Dudinka seaport was prepared for the year-round navigation opening, and the Norilsk airport began operating.
December 5 marks the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Dolgih’s birth, an honorary citizen of Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk region and Moscow, chief engineer and director of the Norilsk mining and metallurgical combine from 1958 to 1969, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, a doctor of technical sciences, and a professor. Dolgih was awarded six Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Patriotic War of the first degree, the Orders For Services to the Fatherland of the first, second and fourth degrees, the Order of Friendship, medals, as well as orders and medals of foreign states.
In 1958, when Dolgih came to Norilsk to the position of the combine’s chief engineer, the time, according to his recollections, was difficult: the post-camp period, the outflow of population, and therefore of workers, weak mechanization of production.
“In Norilsk, a dramatic situation with raw material supply developed”, Vladimir Dolgih shared in an interview in 1993. “Rich ores were worked out, they began to work on a freelance basis. This radically changed the entire social situation in Norilsk, it was necessary to take special care to create conditions. Of course, there were trailers, canteens, but not in the form that was needed. And the ore base was terribly disturbing. The State Planning Committee even raised the issue of stopping work at the Norilsk combine. To be or not to be? That was the question”.
It was Vladimir Dolgih who proved to Hroushchev that the Talnah deposit would provide the entire country with nickel and copper. He also accelerated the development of natural resources with the help of scientific thought, which he attracted to the territory. The cooperation he established with scientific institutions in Irkutsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) today allows the city to have a powerful mineral resource base, develop the Talnah deposit, and continue working with the best institutes.
Experts say that the Talnah deposit would have come to life sooner or later anyway, but it was Dolgih who accelerated its start, thus making a huge breakthrough, a contribution to history. At the same time, he took a huge risk by forcing the events: what if the deposit had not turned out to be so rich?..
It is interesting that in the early 1960s, Dolgih had to delve into all spheres of life in young Norilsk, actually being the acting director of the combine. Dolgih placed his bet on geological exploration and modernization of production, which seemed to be the top priorities. And it paid off. Talnah gave Norilsk a second wind. The city itself grew: under Dolgih, a cinema, a television center, a swimming pool, a music school and many other institutions were built in Norilsk, entire streets were born – Ordzhonikidze and Mira, Leningradskaya and Dzerzhinsky, Talnahskaya, Begicheva, Nansen and Krasnoyarskaya.
Later, Dolgih recalled that the 12 Norilsk years for him, who had come a long way, remained the brightest. Even many years later, he called Norilsk the main business of his life.
Today, the memory of the honorary Norilsk resident is carefully preserved in the city. In May, for example, a memorial plaque was installed on the house where Vladimir Dolgih lived. It is located on Leninsky prospect, 1. The Nornickel company allocated 1.57 million rubles to pay for the work and delivery of the memorial plaque to the polar city.
Also in Norilsk, with the company’s support, they plan to build a multidisciplinary innovative educational complex named after V.I. Dolgih. Earlier, with the participation of Nornickel, a similar techno-lyceum in honor of Vladimir Dolgih opened in 2023 in the Moscow region.
“The multidisciplinary innovative educational complex for children named after V.I. Dolgih in Norilsk should become the flagship of the secondary education system in the city, form the agenda and ensure the development of all the city schools. This will be an institution with a diverse range of extracurricular activities, where students from all over the city will have the opportunity to attend classes in different areas, developing their talents. For teachers, the complex will become a center for educational practices – a place for developing and testing pedagogical tools for further replication in other schools in the city. Thus, the V. I. Dolgih lyceum is not just an educational institution, but a socio-cultural center that opens its doors to representatives of the general public. Thanks to this model, tens of thousands of children and teenagers will be able to visit the institution and use its resources”, said Maxim Mironov, director of the Norilsk Development Agency, which oversees the project.
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Text: Maria Sokolova, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko, Nornickel Polar Division’s archive
