Burov P.P.

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 01 March 2022 16:07

 Pavel Petrovich Burov (1902-1944)

Till the year 1945 Ust-Kamenogorsk had a street named Medvezhya Street. Such name was given because in the 20-30-s it was the back street of the city and it rose from Medvezhy island. For a long time the main sight of the street was a big timber building where previously the “think-tank” of the geology of Rudny Altai – “Altaitsvetmetrazvedka” business organizations (the predecessor of East Kazakhstan geological administration) - headquartered.

Pavel Burov was the chief engineer and prime moving spirit of the “think-tank”. Pavel Petrovich Burov was born in the family of a countryman on March 4, 1902. In 1929 he graduated from Leningrad Mining Institute.

When he was a student he already worked in various exploration crews in the Caucasus and the Urals. At that time P.P.Burov went to contemporary Leninogorsk region many times. After graduation a young but already experienced geologist arrived in Leninogorsk and became the chief of Ridder exploration crew in Altai.

P.P. Burov established geological exploration department and trained personnel in the technical school where he taught. In 1931 the exploration crew headed by Burov was transferred into ownership of Ridder integrated plant. The scope of Burov’s activities was the geology of the region and search for new ore bodies. In 1932 the exploration crew of CREI (Central Research and Exploration Institute) began works on investigating Ridder ore field. Under the supervision of Burov many lens of ore of Sokolny deposit were discovered.

In engineering Burov always cooperated with various scientific organizations of Moscow, Leningrad, Tomsk and Alma-Ata. Pavel Petrovich in collaboration with N.N. Kurek wrote the monograph “Ridder ore field”. According to scientists this work is still a desk book of geologists and production workers and they keep drawing more and more new ideas out of it.

In 1940 “Altaitsvetmetrazvedka” business organizations was established on the basis of OME (Ore Mining Enterprise). The same year Burov was appointed the chief engineer and assistant manager of the business organizations. From then on he guided all the works concerned with exploration and inspection of Altai deposits.

Except investigating Ridder deposit Burov helped in geologic works in Zyryanovsk deposit, organized the exploration of Nikolayevsky deposit. There’s no one else who did as much for discovering the riches of Rudny Altai as Burov.

Exploring Alttai deposits, P.P. Burov directed his efforts at scientific work, social work and teaching;he educated the whole generation of geologists who currently work in Altai.

In April 1944 Pavel Petrovich went to Moscow to take part in a conference. On April 6, 1944 - few days before the conference was opened - he died.

The Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences K. Yermolov says: “It is not an exaggeration to say that none of the geologists before Burov and after him had done more than Burov did for discovering the riches of Altai. He was shy and calm and a man of nerve”. A. Sukhanov described P.P. Burov as a highly intelligent man skilled in many fields. K. Bykov, one of the veteran geologists, called Burov a pioneer and characterized him in the following way: “P.P. Burov is one of the first geologists of the times of the Soviet Union who did much work to develop mineral exploration in Altai”.

In 1946 in order to eternize memory of Pavel Petrovich Burov Medvezhya Street in Ust-Kamenogorsk was renamed into Burov.

Translated by Rayana Zhumatayeva, 2nd year translation major student, KAFU