The metallurgical complex is a set of industries producing various metals. It is divided into ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy. 90 percent of metals used in modern production are ferrous metals, i.e. iron and alloys based on it.
The metallurgical industry is characterized by a high level of concentration, monopolization, and combination of production.
The main factors of placement of the complex are raw materials, energy, consumer, water, environmental and labor resources.
Ferrous metallurgy is the basis for the development of mechanical engineering. It includes the extraction and concentration of iron, manganese and chromite ores, the smelting of iron and steel, and the production of rolled ferroalloys. Therefore, the ferrous metallurgy has a widely developed combination of iron and steelmaking, i.e. the unification of several productions of different industries connected with each other at one enterprise.
Within a single metallurgical base, mining, preparation of ores and fuel, production of metal and auxiliary materials are completed.
The production of cast iron requires a large amount of raw materials - iron ore, coke (in blast furnace production) or electricity, manganese ore, etc. Our country is provided with raw materials for ferrous metallurgy almost completely. In the 80s and 90s of the USSR, Russia was the world leader in iron and steel smelting; now it ranks fourth in the world.
The country's largest metallurgical base is the Urals. It produces almost 1/2 of iron, steel and rolled products in Russia. The raw materials used are imported coal (from Kuzbass and Karaganda) and ore from Kazakhstan, KMA and Magnitogorsk. Most of the metal is smelted at the giant enterprises in Magnitogorsk. Nizhny Tagil, Chelyabinsk, Novotroitsk.
The second-largest metallurgical base is the Centre, which uses its own ores (KMA) and imported coke (Kuzbass, Vorkuta). The main centers are Lipetsk, Stary Oskol, Tula, Volgograd, Elektrostal, Kolpino, and St. Petersburg.
The metallurgical base of Siberia and the Far East is still under formation. Modern full-cycle mills are operating in Novokuznetsk, Novosibirsk, Guryevsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Iron ores come from Mining Shorny, Khakassia and the Angara-Ilya basin. Kuzbass and South Yakutsk coals are used.
In connection with the creation of the Cherepovets Full-Cycle Combine, the Northern Metallurgical Base has begun to form.
Non-ferrous metallurgy includes mining, concentration and metallurgical processing of non-ferrous, noble and rare metals ores. The industry includes lead-zinc, titanium-magnesium, tungsten-molybdenum and noble and rare metals production.
Non-ferrous metals are divided by their physical properties and purpose into heavy metals (copper (C), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni)), light metals (aluminum (A1), titanium (Ti), magnesium (Md).Precious (gold (Ai), silver (Hell), platinum (Ft) and rare (Zr), indium (In), tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), etc.)
Non-ferrous metallurgy is a very material-intensive production, as the non-ferrous metal content of the ore is extremely low, so non-ferrous metallurgy enterprises are mainly focused on raw material bases.
Ores of nonferrous metals are usually multi-component, so the importance of complex use of raw materials is great. An important factor in the location of non-ferrous metal smelters is the energy-intensive production. But the production of light non-ferrous metals requires a large amount of energy.
Aluminum industry. It is developed on the basis of its own (deposits in the Urals, North-Western region, Siberia) and imported raw materials. Almost all factories are more or less distant from raw materials but are located either near hydropower plants or large thermal power plants.
More than 3/4 of the aluminum output is now produced by four large aluminum smelters; the Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk, Sayansk and Novokuenets smelters. The first two of them are the largest in the world.
Our country is among the world leaders in aluminum production, but up to 80% of the aluminum produced in Russia is now exported.
Copper industry. The main copper industry bases of our country are located in the Urals (Gaiskoye, Krasnouralskoye, Revda, Sibayskoye deposits). Here, mainly, the enterprises are located. The production of refined copper is located both in the Urals region and in the Center (Moscow, St. Petersburg).
Lead-zinc industry. It mainly gravitates towards polymetallic ore mining areas (Kuzbass, Transbaikalia, North Caucasus, Primorye).
Nickel industry. It is developed in the Northern Economic District on the basis of deposits of the Kola Peninsula and copper-nickel concentrates of Norilsk, in the Urals - local and imported raw materials, in Eastern Siberia - copper-nickel ores of the Taimyr Autonomous District.