#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. A copper-nickel deposit in the valley of the Bear Creek was found in 1936 by geologists Alexander Vorontsov and Alexey Rozanov.
In 1943, after a fundamental calculation of the deposit reserves, made by the combine’s geological department, it was revealed that the ore body there comes close to the surface and can be developed in an open way, blasting the rock.
On November 4, 1945, the Norilsk combine head, Alexander Panyukov, issued an order “On the organization of a foreman site for the construction of the Medvezhiy Ruchey quarry”. This date is considered the mine’s birthday.
The quarry was built for six years, the first ore was taken out at the end of 1951. By the mine’s gold anniversary in 1995, the amount of ore mined exceeded 200 million tons.
Today, the quarry is the only subdivision in Norilsk where ore is mined in an open pit (until the 1970s, the Ugolny Ruchey (eng.: Coal Creek) mine was still operating). Its depth is about 400 meters.
In the last publication of the History Spot photo project we told that in 1944 the village of Norilsk got into the pages of the foreign press.
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Text: Svetlana Samohina, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive
