THE URALIAN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY by Clifford Charles Eric Denike B. A., The University of British Columbia, 1960 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Geography We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard. The University of British Columbia April 1964 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of • British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study, I further agree that per• mission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by.the. Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that;copying or publi• cation .of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission*' Department of Geography The University.of' British Columbia, Vancouver 8v, Canada Date. • April, 1964» ABSTRACT This study examines the Uralian iron and steel industry distribution, its changes through time and the reasons for these changes. At present, this is one of the important iron and steel producing regions in the world. At one time it was the most important. In order to obtain the information on which to base this study, it was necessary to resort mainly to published materials, largely Soviet. The American Iron and Steel Institute also supplied some non-published material. In order to collect the published materials it was necessary to make use of the libraries of .the University of British Columbia the University of Washington and the Geographical Branch of the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys in Ottawa. Other Ottawa libraries, the personal collections of Dr. Hooson and Dr. Jackson, various bookstores, notably Kamkin's bookstore in Washington, D. C, the bookstore at the United Nations in New York and Davis bookstore in Montreal, were also very useful. The primary problem when conducting a study of this nature is the collecting of sufficient relevant materials for a balanced appraisal of the phenomena being examined. A knowledge of Russian is mandatory and an acquaintance with French is also useful. The information gathered was organized into tables and plotted on maps. These bodies of data were then described and analyzed. Analysis of the Uralian iron and steel industry indicated that this industry was initially essentially located on the iron ore supply. But none of the major plants are at present located on iron ore resources that are large enough to amortize the plant. Also the major plants, are on the whole, based on low quality ores. The major economic advantage of the Uralian iron and steel industry production is its association with the Eastern coal supplies. But this advantage is common to all Eastern plants. Expansion at Magnitogorsk will result in more expensive production, than the construction of new plants would, even though Magnitogorsk is the most efficient Uralian plant. The Urals is well located for the introduction of natural gas into its metallurgy. This is proceeding. Nevertheless, the use of natural gas is only a partial solution to the fuel problem because it can not completely replace coke. Therefore, the Urals will have to continue bringing in coking coal over great distances. The de-emphasis of iron and steel announced in 1962 will help the Urals to perpetuate its present status as a producer (it supplies about one-third of the Soviet production). On the other hand, no significant increase in its relative importance can be expected. The bulk of the Uralian iron and steel production is located in the Eastern Urals, more particularly in the South Eastern Urals. In 1956, the three largest plants: Magnitogorsk and Chelyabinsk in the South Eastern Urals, and Nizhne Tagil'sk in the Central Urals produced 77 per cent of the Uralian pig iron and 67 per cent of the steel smelted. This has not signi• ficantly changed subsequently. Considerable expansion, based on Kachkanar ores, is planned for Nizhne Tagil'sk. But, all things considered, most of the expansion will be located at the major South Uralian plants. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer wishes to acknowledge the invaluable aid given by Dr. D. J. M. Hooson in the preparation of this study. The writer is also indebted to Dr. J. D. Chapman, Dr. W. A. Douglas Jackson and Dr. R. M. Bone for encouragement, advice and materials. Messrs. Ronald Boyes, James BateE and Denis Kerfoot helped with criticism of the techniques used in the study and in the gathering of materials. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION..... 1 II. THE CHARCOAL IRON INDUSTRY. 10 BEGINNINGS 10 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 12 RELATIVE DECLINE 22 ABSOLUTE DECLINE......... 48 SUMMARY. 61 III. THE RAW MATERIAL SUPPLY.. 63 IRON ORE... 63 The Nature of the Ores 63 The Nature of the Deposits.. 66 Production. 67 Evaluation of Supply... 71 COAL. *................... 76 General.. 76 Local Supply.... 77 Reserves .... 77 Production 78 Import of Coal 79 Production of Coke 81 AUXILIARY MATERIALS 81 Alloying Agents 81 Refractory Materials 91 Water. 93 (ii) CHAPTER PAGE III.(cont'd) Flux .... 94 Scrap 94 SUMMARY. ... , 96 IV. THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY USING COKE 98 BEFORE WORLD WAR II 98 WORLD WAR II 108 POST WORLD WAR II........ ...112 SUMMARY. 116 V. INDIVIDUAL PLANTS ...... 121 MAGNITOGORSK 121 Iron Ore Supply........ .121 Iron and Steel Production... 126 NIZHNE TAGIL'SK... 131 Iron Ore Supply 131 Iron and Steel Production 133 CHELYABINSK. 137 Iron Ore Supply 137 Iron and Steel Production ..140 ORSK-KHALILOV.SK 143 Iron Ore Supply .....143 Iron and Steel Production ..145 SMALL PLANTS. 148 SUMMARY ...... 154 (iii) CHAPTER PAGE VI. AN ANALYSIS OF THE URALIAN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY 137 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. 157 RAW MATERIAL SUPPLY 161 VII. CONCLUSIONS 175 BIBLIOGRAPHY 180 (iv) LIST OF MAPS MAP PAGE 1 LOCATION OF THE URALS. 6 2 ELEVATION AND DRAINAGE IN THE URALS.............. 7 3 URALIAN DEPOSITS IMPORTANT TO FERROUS METALLURGY 8 4 URALIAN WATERWAYS 14 5 RUSSIAN PENETRATION OF THE URALS 15 6 LOCATION OF MAJOR PLANTS, 1631-1696 16 7 BASHKIR UPRISINGS, 1705-1755. 23 8 LOCATION OF OPERATING PLANTS, 1701-1735 24 9 PROBABLE FOREST COVER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.-. - 26 10 INDUSTRIALIZATION OF THE URALS DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 27 11 REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCTION-1800........... 29 12 THE COMING OF THE RAILWAYS-1873-1898. 42 13 MAJOR PLANTS - 1913 44 14 REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCTION -1913 46 15 MAJOR IRON AND STEEL PLANTS -LATE 1930'S 57; 16 CHARCOAL PIG IRON PRODUCERS-1940-1956 59 17 CHIEF IRON ORE PRODUCERS -1955 74 18 MAJOR DEPOSITS OF COAL IN WESTERN USSR OF COKING QUALITY..;.... 82 19 URALS-KUZBASS-THE SECOND METALLURGICAL BASE 1935-1938 85 •?v) MAP PAGE 20 MAJOR OPERATING PLANTS - 1938.. 105 21 REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCTION -1938 ..107 22 CONSTRUCTION IN FERROUS METALLURGY IN THE URALS DURING WORLD WAR II. 113 23 FERROUS METALLURGICAL PLANTS-1956. 122 (vi) LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE I. INTRAREGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF IRON AND STEEL, 1800-1913...... .......... 47 II. THE URALIAN IRON ORE SUPPLY.... 73 III. MINERALIZATION OF THE FUEL BALANCE OF THE URALS METALLURGY. 84 IV. COAL PRODUCTION IN THE URALS 84 V. INTRAREGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF IRON AND STEEL, 1913-1938.....*....*.* .- 110 VI. PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL IN THE URALS, 1940-1945 *.. 120 VII. INPUTS IN ONE TON OF PIG IRON-1956 120 VIII. INPUTS IN ONE TON OF STEEL -1956 120 IX. IRON ORE RESOURCES-1 JANUARY 1956.... .....167 X. TOTAL GEOLOGICAL RESERVES OF COAL BASINS PRODUCING METALLURGICAL COKING-COALS IN THE USSR. ..*............,. 167 XI. IRON CONTENT IN ORES UTILIZED-1956 ........168 XII. YIELD OF METALLURGICAL COKE 168 XIII. PROPORTION OF TOTAL OUTPUT OF VARIOUS IRON ORE BASINS AND DEPOSITS 169 XIV. PROPORTION OF COKING COAL SUPPLY OF VARIOUS COAL BASINS FOR-FERROUS METALLURGY in-%......169 XV. DISTANCES BETWEEN MAJOR IRON ORE AND COAL DEPOSITS. ................... 170 XVI. AVERAGE TON-KM ASSEMBLY OF RAW MATERIALS FOR THE LARGEST PLANTS......................... 170 (vii) TABLE PAGE XVII. PRODUCTION OF IRON AND-STEEL-SELECTED PRODUCERS-1955......,......................... 171 XVIII. INPUTS IN ONETTON OF STEEL-MAKING PIG - IRON-1956. .. ..... ...... 172 XIX. OPERATING DATA ON BLAST FURNACES USING HIGH SINTER BURDENS....... ..173 XX. COMPARATIVE COST OF OPEN HEARTH CARBON STEEL IN 1958......................... ...... 174 XXI. REGIONAL COST OF PRODUCTION OF PIG IRON FOR STEEL MAKING............. 174 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The general aim of this study is to examine the distri• bution of the Uralian iron and steel industry. An analysis of the distribution is to be attempted both as to internal structure and relative position in the world iron and steel pattern. On this basis some conclusions are to be drawn as to the nature of the Uralian iron and steel industry and in what manner its distribution is likely to change. In 1955, the Urals was the seventh pig iron smelting region in the world. It was surpassed by the Donets-Krivoy Rog region, the Pittsburgh-Youngstown region, the United States Eastern region, the Chicago region, the Rhine-Westphal region, and Great Britain. By 1958, the Urals ferrous metal production surpassed all foreign nations except the United States of America, the Federal Republic of Germany and the United Kingdom.*- Yet this major industrial phenomenon has been only super• ficially or incompletely treated in Western geographical litera• ture. Part of the reason for this lack is that the Urals covers an area larger than most countries and its iron and steel industry *T. V. Komar, Ural. Ekonomlka-Geograficheskava Kharakteristika. Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, 1959, pp. 180, 199; and Metal Statistics 1960. New York: American Metal Market, 1960, pp. 34, 103. 2. has attained a state of considerable complexity with wide vari• ations from unit to unit.