Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

E. V. Minina, Deputy Director of Science, Candidate of Historical Sciences, minina@ihst.ru
M. Kh. Zakirova, Researcher, Candidate of Historical Sciences

The article reviews development of the open pit method of mineral mining in the USSR in the 1950s–1960s with a spotlight put on iron ore production. The main trends of technology and equipment of open pit iron ore mining are characterized, namely: drilling and blasting, excavation, transport, continuous flow processes, including hydraulic mining. The science and technology interaction is discussed as a case-study of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly as a peculiar testing area of a novel open pit equipment. An important source of information were the publications of Gornyi Zhurnal addressing various scientific and technological aspects of open pit mining.

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