GOLD MINING IN SALAIR IN THE LATE XIX – EARLY XX CENTURIES

Abstract

The research determines the dynamics of gold mining and identifies the specifics of the development of the gold industry in Salair in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The Salair ridge was then under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty. At the end of the XIX century, the Cabinet spent a lot of money on geological survey of the ridge and invested in the development of the local gold mines. The extraction of gold during this period fluctuated within 6–8 poods (1 pood = 16 kg). At the beginning of the XX century, the Cabinet leased the Salair mines to private entrepreneurs and joint-stock companies. Such agreements were signed by Prince A. von Thurn und Taxis and Dr. Josef Jeanne (Austria), Arthur Stanley and mining engineer Farrukh Bek-Vezirov (Great Britain), State Councilor Berezin (Russia), and The Russian Gold Mining Company. Private companies operated more successfully than the Cabinet. In the XX century the extraction of gold in Salair increased. However, after the companies had developed the ready retrievable gold deposits, they ceased operating. As the calculations have shown, more than 3.6 tons of gold were mined on the Salair Ridge in 1892 – 1915. The main feature of the Salair gold mining was that gold was extracted both by the Cabinet and private companies, which means that state and private capital acted in parallel.