Drag to turn the globe

Events/Company founded · 1935

Construction of Norilsk combine begins

Company founded, 23 June 1935, Russia.

What happened

A Soviet decree of 23 June 1935 launched construction of the Norilsk nickel complex. Between 1935 and 1953 about a third of a million Gulag prisoners built and worked it. The area holds more than a third of the world's nickel reserves and about 40 percent of platinum reserves, the chapter states.1,2,3

Why it matters

Nornickel describes itself as one of the world's largest producers of palladium and Class I nickel, and the plant was built by Gulag labour.1,2,3

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Construction of Norilsk combine begins

    Nornickel describes itself as one of the world's largest producers of palladium and Class I nickel, and the plant was built by Gulag labour.1,2,3

Open the full timeline

Where next

Mines

Located inNorilsk-Taimyr (Nornickel)A mine from the same area and mineral story: Norilsk-Taimyr (Nornickel).1Came out ofOktyabrsky and Talnakh mines (Norilsk)Read what happened near Oktyabrsky and Talnakh mines (Norilsk): Construction of Norilsk combine begins.4

Places

Located inNorilskSee the place where this happened: Norilsk.1

Trade routes

An example ofKolyma gold flown to KhabarovskSoviet Arctic mining: Norilsk's nickel complex from 1935, Kolyma gold flown out in 1944.1ExamplesKolyma gold flown to NovosibirskA Soviet decree of 23 June 1935 launched the Norilsk nickel complex.1

Sources

  1. Building Norilsk, chapter 7 of The Economics of Forced Labor: The Soviet Gulag Hoover Institution Press (S. Ertz)
  2. Our history (Annual Report 2023) Nornickel
  3. Norilsk (item Q175517), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  4. Annual Report 2019, Polar Division and Medvezhy Ruchey, Taimyr Nornickel

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

History of miningThe giants: how the largest mines in the world were found1935-2025Lessons from historyFrom discovery to production: the long road to a mine1922-2027The world runs on rockThe EngineThe jet engine's hottest metalsPalladium drill intervals under farmland at Gonneville, Western Australia, in 3DData storyGonneville, hole by holeDiscovery replay · Western Australia

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Pictures: Escondida Mine, Chile, NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Elektrisk malmletning. Undersökningar på Billiton, 1920., Okänd / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).