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NERCHINSK MINING DISTRICT

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 388 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NERCHINSK See also:MINING See also:DISTRICT extends over an See also:area of 29,450 sq. m., and includes all the See also:silver-mines and See also:gold-See also:fields between the Shilka and the Argun, together with a few on the See also:left See also:bank of the Shilka. It is traversed by several parallel chains of mountains which rise to 4500 ft., and are intersected by a complicated See also:system of deep, narrow valleys, densely wooded, with a few expansions along the larger See also:rivers, where the inhabitants with difficulty raise some See also:rye and See also:wheat. The See also:population (75,625 in 1897) consists of Russians, Buryats and See also:Tunguses. Included in this number were some 2300 convicts. The mountains, so far as they have been geologically explored, consist of crystalline slates and limestones—probably Upper See also:Silurian and Devonian—interspersed with See also:granite, See also:syenite and See also:diorite; they contain See also:rich ores of silver, See also:lead, See also:tin and See also:iron, while the diluvial and alluvial valley formations contain productive auriferous sands. The Nerchinsk silver mines began to be worked in 1704, but during the first See also:half of the 18th See also:century their yearly See also:production did not exceed 8400 oz., and the See also:total amount for the first 15o years (1704–1854) amounted to 11,540,000 oz. The lead was mostly neglected on See also:account of the difficulties of transport, but its production is at See also:present on the increase. Gold was first discovered in 1830, and between 1833 and 1855 260,000 oz. of gold dust were obtained. In 1864 a large number of auriferous deposits were discovered. Until 1863 all the labour was performed by See also:serfs, the See also:property of the See also:emperor, and by convicts, numbering usually nearly four thousand.

End of Article: NERCHINSK MINING DISTRICT

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