Discovery of Tyrnyauz tungsten-molybdenum deposit
https://doi.org/10.31143/2542-212X-2025-4-165-175
EDN: HUBKYK
Abstract
Tyrnyauz Tungsten-Molybdenum Plant (TTMP) is a key mining and metallurgical enterprise of the Soviet Union in the North Caucasus, which played a significant role in providing the defense industry with rare metals. The article examines the history of the discovery by geologists B. Orlov, V. Flerova and others of the country's largest tungsten-molybdenum deposit in the 1930s. Based on the corpus of archival materials and published sources, the stages of geological exploration of the Elbrus region, the struggle around the decision to build a plant among metropolitan geologists and the position on this issue taken by the party leadership of the KBAR were substantiated. The issue was resolved only after the personal intervention of the People's Commissar of Heavy Industry G.K. Ordzhonikidze (1937). The role of Soviet geologists and scientists in the theoretical justification of the presence of large mineral deposits in the Tyrnyauz region, which was located within the Elbrus region of the KBAR, on the watershed of the latitudinal ridge Tyrny-Auz, which is the eastern spur of Elbrus, is analyzed.
Keywords
Tyrnyauz combine,
Orlov,
Flerova,
tungsten,
molybdenum,
geological exploration,
industrialization,
Caucasus,
defense industry
Supporting agencies: The study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation, project number 25-28-20355
About the Authors
Petr A. Kuzminov
https://kbsu.ru/employees/kuzminov-petr-abramovich/
Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov
Russian Federation
Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov
Russian Federation
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Professor of the Department of Russian History and Caucasian Studies
Rasul S. Gurtuev
Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Candidate of Historical Sciences
Inal R. Makhov
Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
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18.
Review
For citations:
Kuzminov P.A., Gurtuev R.S., Makhov I.R. Discovery of Tyrnyauz tungsten-molybdenum deposit. Kavkazologiya. 2025;(4):165-175. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31143/2542-212X-2025-4-165-175. EDN: HUBKYK
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