Miass

Miass lies in the southern Urals, in the valley of the Miass River. Its wooded mountain surroundings held valuable mineral deposits, and the settlement first grew around a copper smelting works. Later discoveries of gold-bearing sands gave the valley another source of wealth and attracted miners to its riverbanks.

In 1773 the merchant Illarion Luginin began building a copper smelter here, giving rise to the first settlement. Smelting ceased in 1810 as the ores proved poor. In 1823 the works manager Porozov tested sands from the Miass River for gold, and the following year a particularly rich placer deposit was discovered. The search for gold transformed the district around the former smelting works, bringing a new phase of mining to the southern Ural valley.