Дальнегорск: история, промышленность и экологические проблемы

Town in Primorsky Krai, Russia

Dalnegorsk (Дальнего́рск, lit. far in the mountains) is a town in Primorsky Krai, Russia. Population:

It was formerly known from its founding in 1897 as Tetyukhe (Те́тюхе; ; literally meaning "river of wild boars"), until it was renamed in 1973 as part of a campaign to change any Chinese derived place names (Переименование географических объектов на Дальнем Востоке в 1972 году) in Primorsky Krai.

The settlement of Tetyukhe was founded in 1897, with the founding of a lead and zinc mine by Swiss immigrant Julius Brynner. Brynner's son Boris maintained the right to mine on the site until 1931, one of the longest running private enterprises in the Soviet Union. Boris Brynner's son Yul Brynner later became a famous actor in the United States. In 1930, Tetyukhe was granted urban type settlement status. The settlement was renamed in 1973, along with the Tetyukhe River which was renamed Rudnaya, from the Russian word "руда" meaning "ore". Town status was granted to Dalnegorsk on August 31, 1989.

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with seven rural localities, incorporated as Dalnegorsk Town Under Krai Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, Dalnegorsk Town Under Krai Jurisdiction is incorporated as Dalnegorsky Urban Okrug.

Most population of the town is employed by two industrial enterprises: JSC Bor and JSC Dalpolimetal. Established in 1965, Bor is the world's largest specialized chemical enterprise. Due to the unique deposits of commercial minerals found in the district, and the high technologies applied, Bor successfully operates in the world market and is included in the list of Russia's forty most prospective enterprises. Three quarters of its production is exported to the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Japan, Australia, South Korea, China, and other countries in Europe and Asia. Dalpolimetal, established in 1897, produces 58% of Russia's lead. Two thirds of its production is exported to Japan, China, and South Korea. Despite the highly developed industrialization of Dalnegorsk, over 90% of the territory under its jurisdiction is covered with Korean Pine and mixed broadleaf forests, both of which attract nature tourism enthusiasts. However, Dalnegorsk residents suffer from serious lead poisoning from an old lead smelter and the unsafe transport of lead concentrate from the local lead mining site. This led the Blacksmith Institute to declare Dalnegorsk and neighboring Rudnaya Pristan in the top ten of worst polluted places on earth. However, according to Anatoly Lebedev, leader of the ecological NGO BROK, this inclusion is questionable.

Dalnegorsk is connected by road to Vladivostok (517 km). The nearest railway station (in Chuguyevka) is located from Dalnegorsk. The nearest sea port is from the town at Rudnaya Pristan.

On October 19, 2006, three days before the elections, Dmitry Fotyanov, the mayoral candidate from the United Russia party who came second in the initial round of elections, was gunned down from fire of a Kalashnikov assault rifle fire. The weapons were located by the police in a minivan that was blown up near the offices of the local newspaper soon after the murder. The run off election was called off as both remaining candidates agreed to stand down. The United Russia party called Fotyanov's death a "political murder".