#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. So, on December 31, the first stage of the Taimyrsky mine was put into operation. Its ore was raised from depths from which no one in the world had mined it at that time.
Working conditions at the mine were very difficult: the temperature rises with depth, the danger of rock bumps increases, the equipment operation is questionable, it is necessary to create comfortable working conditions for miners.
To ensure the mining operations’ safety, a seismic station was launched to monitor the rocks seismic activity within the Octyabrsky and Taimyrsky mine fields. In 1996, with the sixth start-up complex construction finishing, the Taimyrsky mine reached its design capacity.
And 40 years ago, on December 26, 1982, the new Severo-Soleninsky gas condensate field gave its first gas. This is the most remote field from Norilsk – it is situated on the Yamal territory.
In 1982, at the combine’s public council’s initiative, Norilsk sociologists, together with their colleagues from Perm, conducted the first large-scale sociological study in the history of Norilsk titled Your Life in Norilsk. About three thousand respondents took part in it, who were selected randomly: sociologists took every 157th card in the address table.
The results of this global survey revealed a lot about the demographic processes in the region and what the average Norilsk citizen was like. But the results of the largest sociological study were hardly discussed in the press. Rather, they spoke only about the good. For example, the fact that since 1970 the income of the average Norilsk citizen doubled, and in every second Norilsk family the average per capita income exceeded one hundred rubles per person per month.
In 1982, at a meeting with the combine director Kolesnikov, the new toponym ‘Oganer’ was first heard: on April 19, measures were approved to organize the Norilsk new satellite intended for 60-70 thousand inhabitants. The word ‘Oganer’ denoted topographic points in the area.
‘Ogonnior’ is translated from the Dolgan language as ‘elder’, this is a respectful appeal to an old person. In the same year, the executive committee allotted a land plot of 13 hectares for the construction of a new thousand-bed hospital.
In the History Spot photo project previous publication, we told that 45 years ago a new large-format cinema for 800 spectators was opened: Norilsk residents reduced the ideological name 60 Years of October to just Six-Zero.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
