Matrosov Mine

Matrosov Mine was created in 1945, a year after the opening of Natalka deposit.  That year, the vertical support poles in the mine and the enrichment factory were built, where 1339 kg of gold was obtained.  By the end of the year, the factory was equipped with a cyanidation plant.   Upon the completion, the mine and factory developed into individual enterprises and became a part of Tenkinskiy mining. 

The ore was obtained from the apex of the mountain and was initially transported to the factory via motor transport.  In 1949, ore was delivered using a 4 km cableway, built from the mine to the factory.  In included 150 trolleys, with an average speed of 2.5 m/s, which transported 1350 tons of ore in a 24 hour period.  The cableway was attended by 72 workers.  By this time, the productivity of the mine quadrupled.  In 1949, Matrosov mine repeatedly became the winner of the socialist competitions among other mines of Dal’story and was awarded, twice in two years, with the honor of Sovmin USSR for the all-union socialist competition. 

In July 1956, the first “Komsomol Party” of 128 people arrived at the mine. A new stage began in the history of Matrosov Mine.  New settlements named Verhniy and Molodezhniy were built for the workers.  In 1957, reverse drilling was implemented for the first time and in 1958 basic operational production was built.  In 1959, the first two story house appeared at the mine.  In order to maintain culture among the miners, the settlement of Matrosov opened its own club. 

In 1969, Matrosov Mine was acknowledged as a part of TRGPU and became a part of “Northeastgold”.  After this, the development of the new factory began and was completed in 1973.  The following year an important cultural even took place in the life of a miner—the first experimental television relaying took place. 

The next turn in the development of Matrosov Mine took place in 2003, when the mine became a part of the gold mining group, Polyus.  This opened new doors for additional exploration and re-evaluation of the reserves at the Natalka deposit.