Russian mine largest source of substance essential for building trades

Feng Xue
By Feng Xue
March 27, 2017World News
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Methods of mining gypsum have changed with changes in technology. Since the mid 1900s Nizhny Novgorod remains one of the largest sources of gypsum. Industrial diggers are used. Before them, a railway system was the main way to get gypsum to the surface.

The biggest change to the mine was when horses were no longer used. Horses born in the mine and bred for mine work dragged gypsum to the surface in sacks. Today they are honored in the mine’s museum.

Guide Elena Komisarova talked about the important role of horses.

“In the 1930s gypsum stones were brought to the surface with the help of horses. Of course, the fate of those horses was not enviable, they lived in a mine, they were actually born here, they died here. They transported gypsum to the surface, but they could not reach the surface itself because there was scarcely any light in the mine and if those horses come out to the surface they’d be blinded.”

The mine has also been found as an ideal place for growing certain kinds of vegetables important to the Russian diet.

 

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