History
The course of industrialization taken by the USSR in the early 1930s and the demand for metal, which increased sharply in this regard, necessitated the advanced development of the raw material base of ferrous metallurgy and, above all, the accelerated development of such large iron and manganese deposits. ores, such as Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol-Manganese in Ukraine.
The task was the radical reconstruction of existing, mostly technically obsolete mines and mines and the construction of new modern mining enterprises. Therefore, there is a need to address many complex scientific and technical issues related to the discovery, preparation and development of ore deposits, mechanization of mining, increasing productivity and labor protection of miners. All these issues could not be resolved without the creation of a single research center, which would combine research and experimental work in the field of ore development, conduct them comprehensively and provide direct scientific and technical assistance to mining companies. And such a center – the Mining Research Institute (NDGRI) – was organized in accordance with the resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR № 445 of February 11, 1933 in Dnepropetrovsk. Part-time teachers of Dnipropetrovsk universities – mining, metallurgy, chemical and technological – were involved in the work in NDGRI.
In 1935, the institute was transferred to the city of Kryvyi Rih in accordance with the decision of the Main Department of Metallurgical Industry (GUMP) of the People’s Commissariat of Heavy Industry (NCTP) of the USSR. In the first years of its operation, the NDGRI was managed by the Ruda Trust, and in 1938, by order of the NKTP, it came under the direct control of the Main Department of the Ore Industry (Glavrudy).
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, in early August 1941, NDGRI was evacuated to the Urals. At first he was at the Bakalsky mine, then relocated to the village of Magnitka at the Zolotoust Titanium-Magnetite Mine. NIGRI returned to Kryvyi Rih in March 1944, about a month after the liberation of the city from Nazi invaders, and immediately became involved in rebuilding the destroyed mines, and then scientifically and technically increasing the volume and efficiency of production at the Kryvororsky and Nikopol-Manganese basins.
The old NIGRI building on the street was destroyed during the war. On May Day, building 12 was restored and housed the institute until 1960. Until 1961, a complex of buildings for the institute was built on a specially designated area of 8 hectares, including a four-story main building on Gagarin Avenue, building 57, where NIGRI moved and where it is now.
Thus, in 1933-1941 the institute was subordinated to the People’s Commissariat of Heavy Industry of the USSR, in 1941-1945 – to the People’s Commissariat of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR (through the management of “Glavruda”), in 1946-1947 – to the Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR, in 1938 – To the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry of the USSR, in 1954-1957 to the Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR (through the Ukrglavrud department), in 1958-1962 to the Dnipropetrovsk, then to the Dnieper Council of the National Economy (through the Mining and Nonmetallics Department), 196 -64 years – the State Committee for Ferrous and Nonferrous Metallurgy under the USSR State Plan, in 1965-1990 – the Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR, in 1991-1993 – the concern “Pivdenruda”, in 1994-2000 – the Ministry of Industry of Ukraine, in 2001 – the State Committee of Industrial Policy of Ukraine, in 2001-2010 – the Ministry of Industrial Policy of Ukraine, in 2010-2012 – the State Agency of Ukraine corporate rights and property, since 2012 – the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and since August 1, 2012 became part of the Kryvyi Rih National University as a structural unit of the Research Institute of Mining.
In the first years of its existence, NDGRI did not have enough highly qualified personnel – candidates and doctors of technical sciences. The situation changed after the organization of postgraduate studies in the mid-1960s (it lasted until 1991 and was closed due to the general crisis of the early 1990s). A total of 92 postgraduate students defended their dissertations, including 53 NDGRI staff.
According to the results of their research, NDGRI scientists have published 1620 articles in mining periodicals and written more than 50 books. They are the authors of about 1,000 inventions and patents.
The 1990s were very difficult for the institute, when a socio-economic crisis broke out in Ukraine. The question arose – to be or not to be an institute. The leadership of the Ministry of Industry of Ukraine considered various options for merging NDGRI with other institutions and organizations, or its privatization, which essentially meant the elimination of the first in the former USSR, and now – in the CIS research mining institute, which has done so much for formation and development of the mining industry. However, NIGRI has survived thanks to the introduction of austerity in all spheres of activity, skillful defense of their positions in higher authorities, active work with mining companies to clarify the capabilities of the institute in solving their pressing problems. This is a great merit of the director of the institute VG Blyznyukov, who, leading NDGRI in the most difficult period (1993-2009), managed to bring him out of crisis and create all necessary conditions for fruitful work of scientists, which gave positive results: successful work in the period 1991-2001. The institute and its director were included in the “Golden Book of the Ukrainian Elite”, dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence (2001).
Since May 1993, the functions of NDGRI have been significantly expanded, as in accordance with the order of the Minister of Industry of Ukraine, he was appointed the main research institute for the extraction of not only iron and manganese ores, but also non-ferrous, rare earth and precious metals, refractory and flux materials; as well as hydrogeology and special mining operations; integrated use of mineral raw materials; mining geology and surveying; methods and technologies of field drainage; mining ecology and land reclamation.
In the period from 1990 to 1995. research work on open pit mining was aimed at developing and improving methods and tools for open pit mining and the rational use of expropriated land; determination of optimal career work areas; development of schemes and technologies for reconstruction and reclamation of GOK dumps; methods and means of forecasting the state of the rock mass in the sides and ledges of quarries; determination of parameters of concentration of mining works in quarries of Kryvbas.
In the period 2009-2013. significant changes have taken place in the life of the institute. The Institute was headed by Candidate of Technical Sciences, Senior Researcher, Professor of MIA KNU, Academician of the Academy of Economic Sciences of Ukraine, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Mining Sciences Babets Eugene Konstantinovich. The scope of work in the traditional areas of science for the institute has expanded: geological and economic assessment of deposits using computer geological and technical and economic models, development of energy-saving technologies in the mining and metallurgical complex, joint open and underground development of deposits, development of tailings recycling technologies. ore beneficiation. One of the main directions of the institute’s work is scientific strategic planning for the development of mining enterprises (mines, quarries), protection of the environment from man-made influences.
One of the determining factors in the successful work of NDGRI is its effectively functioning patent and licensing service. The patent fund of the institute, which was created over 60 years and currently has about 1.5 million copies of descriptions of inventions, contains the most complete patent information on the technology of ore development among mining institutes in Ukraine and the CIS
