Bereznikovsky Branch of the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education Perm National Research Polytechnic University, Berezniki, Perm Krai, Russia

V. V. Shilov, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of General Scientific Disciplines, Member of the Board of the Perm Branch of the Russian Society of Sociologists, Candidate of Historical Sciences, e-mail: vvs595959@mail.ru

The richest natural heritage of the Perm Krai is connected with the ancient Perm Sea. Its drying led to the formation of lagoons, which were eventually covered by sedimentary rocks. As a result, the Verkhnekamskoye deposit of potash and magnesium salts (VDPMS), the largest in the world in terms of ore reserves (after Canada), was formed in the north of the region. This made it possible for the Northern Kama Region to become the largest supplier of table salt and soda for the regions of Russia during the pre–Soviet period, and during the Soviet period it became the most important and practically the only center for the production of potash fertilizers and non-ferrous metals, primarily magnesium and titanium. Based on materials from the State Archive of the Perm Krai (SAPK), the Perm State Archive of Socio-Political History (PermSASPH), the collections of the Solikamsk Museum of Local Lore, the Bereznikov Historical and Art Museum named after I. F Konovalov, corporate museums of Berezniki potash workers, metallurgists and nitrogen workers the contribution of scientists whose research helped Professor Pavel Ivanovich Preobrazhensky discover the world’s richest deposit of potash and magnesium salts in Verkhnekamy on October 5, 1925, is shown. That contributed not only to the rapid industrial and socio-cultural development of the Western Urals, but also ensured the steady growth of industrial potential in many sectors of the national economy, significantly increased the country’s defense capability during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, and became Russia’s only center for titanium-magnesium production and rare earth elements.

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