Dzhetygara deposit, Zhitikara, Kazakhstan

Dzhetygara is an asbestos deposit in Kustanay Oblast, Kazakhstan, which the U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1975 called "the U.S.S.R.'s second largest asbestos deposit."² Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, also called the Dzhetygara Combine "the second largest producer," and in 1978 and 1979 named the works there the "Koustanai" installations.^1,6,7

The sources give the works' size and output in figures that do not agree: the yearbook reported that "renovation of the No. 1 mill and commissioning of the new No. 2 mill permitted production of about two-thirds of a million tons in 1975."² Asbestos gave the combine "a total capacity of about 300,000 tons per annum" in December 1975, and a year later "an annual capacity of 400,000 tons," with 1975 output of "some 360,000 tons."^1,3 A 1977 yearbook table, "based on planned production data supplied by the Johns-Manville Corp." after a visit by its officers, gave Dzhetygara "725" thousand short tons for 1976, while the trade journal's own estimate for 1976 was "650,000."^4,5 Asbestos reported "current annual production" of "700,000 tons" in 1978, to be raised to "760,000 tons by 1980 and 1.2-million tons by 1985," and "730,000 tons" in 1979.^6,7 In January 1981 it wrote that renovation of the first mill had raised its production "from 259,000 tonnes in 1970 to an estimated 350,000 tonnes in 1979," and that the No. 2 mill, "with annual capacity of 400,000 tonnes, produced an estimated 290,000 tonnes in 1979."⁸

The U.S. Geological Survey's yearbook for 2001, citing Industrial Minerals, reported that the Dzhetygarinskiy Asbestos Mining and Processing Combine produced "178,400 t of fiber in 2000," most of it "exported to China, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan for the manufacture of asbestos-cement pipe and roofing."⁹ The company announced that it "will invest up to $15 million between 2001 and 2005 to modernize its plant in Zhitikara."⁹

The documents report this mine producing asbestos fiber for sale.⁹

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Output the documents report

Figures as printed, in the units each document uses (short tons before about 1990, metric tons after, in most U.S. chapters). Some are a year's output, some a daily rate or a capacity, some a company's total rather than this mine's alone; the statement for that year below says which.

Year by year

Every statement about this mine in the documents, in each document's own words, by the year it is about.

1975

• Mill: “the second largest producer with a total capacity of about 300,000 tons per annum” (Dzhetygara Combine), p. 38¹
• Mill: “Renovation of the No. 1 mill and commissioning of the new No. 2 mill”, p. 10²
• Output: “production of about two-thirds of a million tons in 1975”, p. 10²
• Description: “Kazakhstan has the U.S.S.R.'s second largest asbestos deposit, Dzhetygara, in Kustanay Oblast”, p. 10²
• Output: “an annual capacity of 400,000 tons. Its output of asbestos in 1975 was some 360,000 tons” (Dzhetygara Combine), p. 37³

1976

• Output: “Dzhetygara Combine 1975 360,000; 1976 650,000” (Dzhetygara Combine), p. 31⁴
• Output: “Dzhetygara 725 (1976), 850 (1981), 850 (1986)”, p. 10⁵

1978

• Output: “Current annual production is 700,000 tons but this is to be increased to 760,000 tons by 1980 and 1.2-million tons by 1985” (Koustanai), p. 40⁶

1979

• Output: “Current annual production is said to be 730,000 tons” (Koustanai), p. 36⁷
• Output: “The first mill has been renovated which resulted in increased production from 259,000 tonnes in 1970 to an estimated 350,000 tonnes in 1979. The No. 2 mill ... produced an estimated 290,000 tonnes in 1979” (Dzhetygara), p. 28⁸

2000

• Output: “production of 178,400 t of fiber in 2000” (Public Jt. St. Co. Dzhetygarinskiy Asbestos Mining and Processing Combine), as reported by Industrial Minerals, p. 3⁹
• Buyers: “exported to China, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan” (Public Jt. St. Co. Dzhetygarinskiy Asbestos Mining and Processing Combine), as reported by Industrial Minerals, p. 3⁹

2001

• Mill: “invest up to $15 million between 2001 and 2005 to modernize its plant in Zhitikara” (Public Jt. St. Co. Dzhetygarinskiy Asbestos Mining and Processing Combine), as reported by Industrial Minerals, p. 3⁹

In medical studies

Medical studies in our research library that name this mine, by how they concern it. A search found every one that names the mine and an AI reader sorted them; the quotation, checked word for word against the text, shows where. Those that name the mine only in passing or in a reference list are left out.

Studies of the mine’s workers (1)

• Koigeldinova S 2022: Immune Status of Workers with Professional Risk of Being Affected by Chrysotile Asbestos in Kazakhstan: “The source of risk from the environment is the quarry (Zhitikarinskoye deposit of chrysotile asbestos), next to which the city of Zhitikara is located. All 125 workers are residents of this city.”

Studies of the mine’s fiber (2)

• Kussainova A 2023: Molecular and Cellular Mechanism of Action of Chrysotile Asbestos in MRC5 Cell Line: “Chrysotile asbestos was produced at the asbestos mining and processing plant Kostanay Minerals JSC (Zhitikara, Kazakhstan).”
• Shayakhmetova RA 2024: Magnesium and silicon recovery from chrysotile asbestos waste of the deposit Zhitikara, Kazakhstan: “this paper presents a hydrometallurgical method for processing the CAW of the Zhitikara deposit in the Kostanay region of Kazakhstan.”

Other names

Documents call this mine “Dzhetygara”, “Dzhetygarinskiy Asbestos Mining and Processing Combine plant in Zhitikara”, “Dzhetygara Combine”, “Koustanai”.

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1975, December 1975 (December 1, 1975), p. 38.
2. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1975 (January 1, 1976), p. 10.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1976, December 1976 (December 1, 1976), p. 37.
4. Asbestos Magazine, 1977, December 1977 (December 1, 1977), p. 31.
5. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1977 (January 1, 1978), p. 10.
6. Asbestos Magazine, 1978, December 1978 (December 1, 1978), p. 40.
7. Asbestos Magazine, 1979, December 1979 (December 1, 1979), p. 36.
8. Asbestos Magazine, 1981, January 1981 (January 1, 1981), p. 28.
9. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 2001 (January 1, 2002), p. 3.