THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF THE U.S.S.R. 
995 
 
stage. Each of these complexes will handle some 400 tons of ore daily, producing
2,400 tons of tin annually. 
 Titanium.—Production of titanium was programed to be raised 40%
in
the 1976-80 period. Estimated output for 1980 was 41,000 tons. Soviet reserves
of ore are averaging 10% to 20% Ti02. The industry continued to be based
mainly on Ukrainian and Siberian ilmentite and rutile. 
 The Soviet Union, which was supplying about 35,000 tons per year of titanium
sponge to the world market, curtailed shipments in 1979. As a result, prices
jumped from under $10 per kilogram to about $40. Reportedly, the U.S.S.R.
imported 44,000 tons of titanium ores (ilmenite, rutile, and zircon) from
Australia in 1979. 
 The most important sources of ilmenite are placer deposits on two right-bank
tributaries of the Dnieper River in the Ukraine. Major producers continue
to be the Samotkanskoye zirconium-titanium alluvial deposit and the Volchanskoye
titanium deposit in Dnepropetrovsk Oblast'; the Irshanskoye, Streminogorskoye,
and Zelenogorskoye titanium deposits in Zhitomirskaya Oblast'; and the Tarasovskoye
deposit in Kiyevskaya Oblast'. 
 Two complexes, the Irshanskiy using dredges and the Verkhnednepprovskiy,
operate these deposits and are the main raw material suppliers for the Soviet
titanium industry. Four stages of the Irshansk concentrator were in operation
in 1979. 
 The output of titanium sponge in Kazakhstan was increased by 125% in the
1966-76 period and by 41% over the years of the ninth 5-year plan (1971-75).
Output of titanium sponge at this complex was planned to be raised by 7.7%
in 1978 over the 1977 level, but later adjusted to 5.6%. 
 Tungsten.—North Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Transbaykal,
and
the Soviet Far East continued to be the principal producers. Production of
tungsten was insufficient to satisfy growing domestic needs, and about one-third
of the concentrate requirements were imported. The following deposits were
under exploitation in 1979: 
Tyrny-Aug (North Caucasus), Dzhida (Buryat A.S.S.R.), Chorukh-Dayron, Lyangar,
Yubileynoye, and Ingechka (Central Asia), Akchataus, Karaobin, and Verkhne-Kayraktin
(Kazakhstan), lultin (Magadan Oblast'), Vostok and Lermontov (Maritime Territory),
and Kul'gutin in Altay region. Most of the deposits in the U.S.S.R. are low
grade. Production is estimated at 8,900 tons in 1980. The large deposit in
the North Cauca 
sus, the Tyrny-Auz deposit, contains both molybdenum and tungsten. The largest
deposits in Kazakhstan are the VerkhneKayraktin tungsten and Akchatau molybdenum-tungsten
deposits. There are considerable reserves of tungsten at the Ingechke deposit
in Uzbekistan and the Jidda deposit in Siberia. 
 The main producer of tungsten concentrates is the Tyrny-Auz tungsten and
molybdenum complex, where both underground and surface methods are used.
The Nal'chik plant, based on Tyrny-Auz concentrates, continued operations
with the expected increase in tungsten metal output. The lultin complex is
the only tungsten mining enterprise in Magadan Oblast', and extensive improvements
are being carried out here. The Chorukh-Dayronsk deposit in Tadzhikistan
is almost completely depleted and has been replaced by the Yubileyonye deposit,
which was put into operation recently. The exploration of the Bogutin deposit
in South Kazakhstan and the Maykhura deposit in Tadzhikistan was completed.

 The second stage of the Martime Kray complex was under construction and
scheduled for completion in 1982. Originally the richest tungsten ores were
mined by surface methods, but an underground mine is now under development.

 Vanadium—The Soviet Union, with large vanadium resources, is becoming
an important producer and exporter. The principal sources in 1978-79 continued
to be vanadium-rich slag, a co-product with iron from the titaniferous magnetites
of the Kachkanar open pits in the Urals. The Nizhniy Tagil metallurgical
complex and the Chusovskoy metallurgical plant in the Urals are the enterprises
that produce raw material for the production of vanadium and its alloys.
Nizhniy Tagil, where the vanadium slag is produced from 130-ton oxygen converters,
is the only modern enterprise. The vanadium content of the pig iron at Chusoyoy
is 0.54%, and that at Nizhniy Tagil is 0.45%. After devanadisation of the
pig iron, the average V2O5 content of the slag at Chusovoy is 17.2% and that
at Nizhniy Tagil is 21.2%. 
 The enlargement of facilities at the Kachkanar complex, from 33 million
tons of crude ore to 40 million tons, and the processing of vanadium at the
Nizhniy Tagil metallurgical complex has made it possible to increase the
output of vanadium products considerably. It is planned to develop the Kachkanar
No. 2 and to increase production