Baley

Baley is a city in the Trans-Baikal Territory of Russia. The administrative center of the Balei municipal district, and the city of Balei is included in an independent municipal formation within the Trans-Baikal Territory - the urban district of Balei. Population of 14.0 thousand people (2005). The city is located on the Unda River, 350 km from Chita. The basis of the city’s industry is gold mining, which has recently decreased significantly. Economic problems are supplemented by environmental problems due to the high concentration of radioactive substances. The city of Baley is located at the foot of the Borschovochnaya Range, 55 km from the Priiskovaya railway station. There's an airport.

The first permanent settlement arose as the village of Novotroitskoe in the area of the gold mines of the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty. Gold mining from placers in the area of modern Balea began in 1858 at the Kazakovskoye and in 1892 at the Novo-Troitsky crafts of the Cabinet. The extraction of placers was carried out mainly in the open way and did not stop until 1917. By 1917, 2,400 poods of gold had been mined. In 1917, the fisheries were nationalized, but until 1919, mining was not conducted. Under the rule of Ataman Semyonov, production was resumed and in 1919 1920 40 poods were produced. During the Civil War, mining was carried out by handicraft, and the gold mined was exported to China in exchange for goods and alcohol. Until 1929, alluvial gold was mined. In the vicinity of the village of Novotroitskoe in 1929, a root gold deposit was discovered. In the same year, the Baleizoloto fishery was organized. This led to the growth and gold-mining specialization of the village, which soon became known as Novotroitsky Fishing. The Baleiskoye field was developed by a combined underground and open method. The first gold extraction factory (ZIF) came into operation in 1935. In the same year, the sanatorium "Urguchan" was built (26 km from Balei).

In 1938, the village of Novotroitsky Fishing was transformed into the city of Baley. In the mid-thirties, the plant took one of the leading places in gold mining in the country, but it went unevenly. The ups when new rich veins opened alternated with downs when they were produced. These ups and downs were accompanied by the ebb and flow of gold miners. There was a labor camp on the territory of the field, but the main labor force was freelance. During the war, women and prisoners worked in the mines. By the end of the war, the population of Balea was struck by an epidemic of silicosis (a severe pulmonary disease caused by the finest quartz dust).

At the end of the war, exiled Germans of the Volga region were resettled in Balei from the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The Baleiskoye field was almost fully developed by the end of the Great Patriotic War. In 1947, Taseevskoye gold deposit was discovered near Balei. Compact ore bodies and high gold content 200"300 g / t quickly put the plant "Baleizoloto" on one of the first places in the system of the Ministry of Tsvetmet of the USSR. To master the huge volumes of work, workers were required, which after the war simply did not exist. The question was solved by adding to the “free working hands” the camp of prisoners, which was put directly on the field (Baleisky ITL). From prisoners with higher education, a design department was created, a kind of Taseevskaya "sharashka". BALEISK ITL (Baleilag, Baleisky ITL and Taseevsky construction) existed from 07.06.1947 to 29.04.1953. The number of the camp by year: 01.08.47 - 2285, 01.01.48 - 4142, 01.01.49 - 4000 (URO), 10.04.52 - 2556 (including 295 women, 106 convicted for the crime), 15.04.53 - 2679. The convicts served the needs of the plant "Darasunzoloto" (until 10.03.48) and "Baleizoloto" Glavspetstsvetmet of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Taseevsky construction (since 23.05.51), mine, auxiliary agricultural work, logging and alloying, design work in the branch of the in-that "Giprozoloto" from 01.07.52, construction of an experimental gold extraction factory. Development of the Taseevskoye field (Baleizoloto GOK) was discontinued in 1997.

In 1998, the debt of OJSC GOK "Baleizoloto" to the federal budget 40 million rubles. With the collapse of the city-forming enterprise in the city began a social crisis. By 2003, the city's population had dropped to 14,000 (in 1992, 23,000). As of 2006, 32% of pensioners, 21% of children and 47% of the working population live in Baleia In September 2004, Highland Gold acquired the Taseevskoye field at a price of $ 26 million. The field is being developed jointly with Barrick Gold Corporation (Canada).

In order to effectively manage the development, the company Taseevskoye LLC was established, whose office is located directly in Balei, and which holds a license to develop the Taseevskoye field. Currently, Taseevskoye LLC is reassessing the potential of the Taseevskoye gold ore deposit in order to resume its development (as of 2006, the number of employees of Taseevskoye LLC is 130 people). The decision to start work should be made by the end of 2007. In parallel with the additional exploration of the field, in 2006, Taseevskoye LLC developed and launched a comprehensive socio-economic program for the development of Balei and Balei district.

Photo: Bukin A.G. Photo taken from the site "Old Chita"