Norilsk

Norilsk () is a major city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It obtained the city status in 1953. It is the northernmost city in Siberia and the world's second largest city (after Murmansk) above the Arctic Circle. Norilsk and Yakutsk are the only large cities in the continuous permafrost zone. Norilsk is also the northern-most city with a population over 100,000 on the planet. Population: 133,436 (2004 est.); 134,832 (2002 Census).

The settlement of Norilsk was founded by the end of 1920s; however, the official date of founding is traditionally set to 1935, when Norilsk was expanded as a settlement for the Norilsk mining-metallurgic complex and became the center of Norillag system of GULAG labor camps. It was granted the status of urban settlement in 1939.

Norilsk, located between the West Siberian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau at the foot of the 1,700-metre-high Putoran Mountains, is situated on some of the largest nickel deposits on Earth, at Consequently, mining and smelting ore are the major industries. Norilsk is the center of a region where nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, and coal are mined. Mineral deposits in the Siberian Craton had been known for two centuries before Norilsk was founded, but mining began only in 1939, when the buried portions of the Norilsk–Talnakh intrusions were found beneath mountainous terrain.

To support the new city a railway to ports on the Yenisei River was established. From these ports ore was transported to European Russia by sea during the summer.

According to the archives of Norillag, 16,806 prisoners died in Norilsk under the conditions of forced labor, starvation, and intense cold throughout the existence of the camp (1935–1956) ^*. Fatalities were especially high during the war years of 1942–1944 when food supplies were particularly scarce. The prisoners organised a revolt in 1953, suppressed by the police. Unknown but significant numbers of prisoners continued to serve and die in the mines until around 1979. Norilsk–Talknakh continues to be a dangerous mine to work in, though casualty figures are not readily disclosed.

In 2001, Norilsk was decreed a closed city for foreigners, with travel permits required for Russian citizens as well. This is likely because of the sensitive nature of the nickel-platinum-palladium-copper mining, and the ICBM missile silos nestled in the Putoran Mountains nearby.

Norilsk–Talnakh nickel deposits

The nickel deposits of Norilsk-Talnakh are without doubt the largest nickel-copper-palladium deposits in the world. The deposit was formed 250 million years ago during the eruption of the Siberian Traps igneous province (STIP). The STIP erupted over one million cubic kilometres of lava, a large portion of it through a series of flat-lying lava conduits lying below Norilsk and the Talnakh Mountains. The Siberian Traps are considered to be responsible for the mass extinction event at the end of the Permian.

The ore was formed when the erupting magma became saturated in sulphur, forming globules of pentlandite, chalcopyrite, and other sulphides. These sulphides were then "washed" by the continuing torrent of erupting magma, and upgraded their tenor with nickel, copper, platinum, and palladium. The current resource known for these mineralised intrusion exceeds 1.8 billion tons.

The ore is mined underground via several shafts, and a decline. The ore deposits are currently being extracted at >1,200 m below ground. The ore deposits are drilled from the surface.

The deposits are being explored by a Russian Government-controlled company. The company is known to be using electromagnetic field geophysics, with loops on surface which are over 1,000 m on a side. They are conclusively able to image the conductive nickel ore at depths in excess of 1,800 m.

The nickel ore is smelted on site at Norilsk. The smelting is directly responsible for severe pollution, generally acid rain and smog. By some estimates, 1 percent of the entire global emissions of sulfur dioxide comes from this one city. Heavy metal pollution near Norilsk is so severe that it is now economically feasible to mine the soil, which has been polluted so severely that it has economic grades of platinum and palladium.

Literature

Obshhestvo "Memorial", Regional Branch "Siberia": Norilskaya golgofa. Krasnoyarsk: Izd-vo "Klaretianum", 2002 ^*.

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Closed cities | 1920s establishments

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Norilsk–Talnakh nickel deposits

Literature

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