Soyuzzoloto

In the second decade of the 20th century, domestic gold mining declined uncontrollably: in 1913 it amounted to 63.6 tons, in 1916 - half as much - 30.4 tons, and in 1918 it fell another half - to 17.2 tons. In 1921 , the total volume of gold mining fell to 1.8 tons ^[1] .

With the end of the civil war, the main and primary efforts in finding sources for replenishing the gold reserves of the treasury were turned in the only reliable direction - the recovery from the ruin of domestic gold mining. In October 1921 , the Council of People 's Commissars Decree “On the Gold and Platinum Industry” was issued, in which deposits of these metals were declared state property. In the years 1921-1925. former gold mining enterprises were reorganized into 11 state gold mining trusts.

After the monetary reform of 1922-24. when banknotes began to be provided with gold, the dominant position in the gold industry had to be secured by the state. The All-Russian Gold Industry Congress of 1926 recognized the need to conduct systematic searches and exploration of new gold deposits, in connection with which, in 1927, the gold mining enterprises became the founders of the All-Union Joint Stock Company Soyuzzoloto, which combined the disparate gold mining enterprises into a single structure. In particular, the Dalzoloto Trust, which was liquidated on October 1, 1927, completely became part of Soyuzzoloto.

The board of the company until March 1929 was located in Moscow , later - in Irkutsk , Khabarovsk became the seat of the commissioner in the Far Eastern Territory. He headed the joint-stock company A.P. Serebrovsky (1884-1938). ^[2]

Despite the difficult situation with the qualified staff of field geologists and the extremely limited possibilities for equipping expeditions with equipment, gear, and transport, desperate efforts were made to expand the geological base for the prospective development of gold mining. 1927-1929 can be considered the beginning of the organization of systematic gold exploration, covering almost all regions of the country in which gold bearing was supposed.

With the transfer of the board of the Soyuzzoloto society from Moscow to Irkutsk in 1930 , the latter opened the Siberian Mining Institute for Gold and Platinum, the first director of which was appointed the head of the exploration department of the board of Soyuzzoloto S. V. Sergeev. Then, on the basis of the Irkutsk Mechanical Plant , a specialized factory for the manufacture of drags and other equipment for the gold mining industry was created.

Meanwhile, the state’s currency situation continued to deteriorate due to the sale of gold reserves - for the whole of 1927–28, about 160 tons worth 205 million rubles were sold abroad. There has not been such a large-scale sale of gold since 1921. From mid-August, another article appeared in the closed issue balance sheets - “Gold on the accounts of the Soyuzzoloto Management Board”. Since the joint-stock company was engaged in gold mining and provided the Board of the State Bank with its certificates as a guarantee of future deliveries, so far gold was not yet mined to ensure the issue. Thus, on the balance sheet as of September 27, 1928, gold was listed in the pantry for 19.9 million rubles, 49.5 million rubles on the accounts of the People's Commissariat of Finance, and 41.3 million rubles on the accounts of Soyuzzoloto. Moreover, for the three quarters of the 1927/28 financial year, the state from this joint-stock company actually received gold only for 12 million rubles ^[3] .

In November 1930, the Soyuzzoloto joint-stock company was reorganized into the All-Union Association Tsvetmetzoloto, financed by the state. Thus, 1930 was the year of the final liquidation of private gold mining in the Far East, and metal mining recovered to the level of the years preceding the First World War .

• Gold Rush in Siberia

• Kochegarova E. D. On the history of the development of the gold industry of the Amur Region (late XIX - early XX centuries) // Histor. experience in the development of the Far East / Amur. state un-t - Blagoveshchensk, 2000. - issue. 3. - S. 219-225.
• Neronsky G.N. Development of the gold mining industry in the Amur region // Amur local historian, 1976. - P. 101—117.
• The Gold Rush on the Amur // Amurskaya Pravda No. 152, 08/22/2009.
• Materials of the site "Gold mining" // IRGIREDMED

• Speech by Comrade Serebrovsky at the 17th Congress of the CPSU (B.) (1934).