Nizhnytagil
Nizhnetagilsky Zavod Nizhnytagil
This old ironworks in Nizhny Tagil is called “Old Demidov’s plant”. It was founded in 1725 by Demidov dynasty. In the 18th and 19th century production of the plant has been known in Europe and America under the brand name “Old Sable”. The plant has experienced three epochs: the age of steam, water and electricity.
In October 1987, the plant gave the latest melting and was stopped: modernization of production was not profitable because of developing Nizhnetagilskij metallurgical combine — the other industrial giant. Over 14 million tons of pig iron were smelted during 262 years of work.
In 1987 the ironworks are shutdown for good and the very first industrial museum in Russia is established. The production was moved to the EVRAZ NTMK integrated works nearby (http://viktormacha.com/galerie/evraz-ntmk-nizni-tagil-269/ ).
Image photography
By Viktor Macha in 2005.
Plant facts and figures
The plant have an annual capacity of 1150000 tons.
The following processes are conducted in the plant:
- Iron making
- Rolling mill
This plant produces the following type of products:
- Plates
- Slabs
- Pig iron
Full description
The town of Nizhny Tagil was founded in 1722 at the rivers Vyia and Tagil situated in Sverdlovsk region. Already in 1725 a significant russian industrialist Nikita Demidov founded the first copper smelter here. In the same year the first of four blast furnaces was put in operation. However, as the quality of copper ore was declining significantly, first attempts of pig iron production started soon after, in 1736.
The mill was modernized since 1860. In 1891 and 1913, two open-hearth furnaces and rolling mill are built in northen part. Main production consisted of simple steel equipment, pipes and war cannons later.
In 1917, the mill became a joint stock company.
During the Second World War the works started production of ferro-chromium and ferro-mangan, rolling mills were oriented mostly on sheet steel for military aircrafts.