#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. In 1938, on the Avraamy Zavenyagin’s initiative, a mining department was created in Norilsk, which worked out the sedimentary deposits of the Ugolny Ruchey (Coal Creek).
Experienced prospectors with homemade wooden trays received small, but tangible by weight, grains of native platinum.
When the first 38 kilograms of the precious metal were washed, Zavenyagin decided to send the platinum by plane to the Kremlin as a gift for Stalin’s anniversary. The cargo was accompanied by a young engineer Zurab Zarapetyan.
And everything would be fine, but the plane really crashed – over the Yenisey. People survived, only Zarapetyan broke his leg. And the precious box fell into the water and sank.
According to the old-timers’ recollections, divers were called to the accident site, the box was taken out, and the platinum safely reached the addressee. But was it so?
The legend of the platinum plane is still circulating in Norilsk mythology.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we talked about the fact that over 700 mineral species have been found in the Norilsk geological region over the years of development.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive
