Ancient Metallurgy.
The mastery of metal smelting in human history was a great discovery that led to the accelerated growth of productive forces in agriculture, woodworking, and metalworking; an increase in the combat capability of weaponry; the durability of household tools and weapons; and progressive economic and social changes in society. Based on archaeological sources, it has been revealed that some of the first metallic tools used by humans in 8-6 thousand BC were: awls with double-edged tips with round cross-sections (Eastern Asia, Mesopotamia, India, Iran, Southern Turkmenistan, Fergana, Semirechye, Sokuluk), knives, single-edged axe chisels, and chisels; followed by celts, mirrors, needles, spears, arrows, swords, daggers, sickles, hooks, and others.
During this period, the material for making products was native copper. Processing was carried out using cold forging. After many practical experiences and experiments, metal began to be processed with heating over a wood fire. The tools used were stone hammers, pestles, and anvils with flat working edges, and it was later discovered that heating the metal to high temperatures could be achieved by burning charcoal. After which, charcoal became the main defining type of fuel for metal smelting. Ancient smelters realized that in addition to the found native copper, another way to smelt a large amount of metal was necessary. This was copper ore. Its composition included minerals: malachite, azurite, chalcopyrite, and others. With the emergence of copper metallurgy, antimony-mercury, gold-silver, tin-lead, and iron metallurgy began to develop.
The found fragments of clay household utensils in Uzun-Jol (Minusinsk Basin) and the remnants of a thick-walled clay vessel with a coating of copper slag (apparently a clay crucible) testify to copper smelting. The finds date back to at least the 4th millennium. The emergence of Kyrgyz metallurgy on the Middle Yenisei occurred at the end of the Afanasyev period. This is evidenced by the found cast copper items: tips, spearheads, ear-formed axes, and others. Afanasyev foundry workers did not yet know the ways to create various alloys of copper and other materials.
The main technology of copper smelting has survived from ancient times almost to the present day, as noted by V.F. Weber, “until the end of the last century, metallurgy was an art.” Mastery of metallurgical production techniques was almost exclusively achieved through painstaking labor and long-term experience. In the Small and Large Syral (Minusinsk Basin) in the 18th century, intensive mining of copper ore was carried out, and deep mine shafts and rivers still remain there.
As noted by S.V. Kiselev, “during the Karasuk period, a huge step was taken in metallurgy on the Yenisei. It was then that casting products in shape, in their final form, was widely applied. A tremendous development of foundry production occurred in the Tagar period. At that time, foundry workers produced the most complex artistic castings of all types. They were remarkable sculptors, creating images of animals and the plant world. In 1737, P.S. Pallas noted that during the Tagar period, all conditions for engaging in animal husbandry and agriculture, as well as hunting and other auxiliary crafts, were present. In addition, the local population was engaged in copper smelting.
Copper Metallurgy.
The level of development and the volume of work of ancient metallurgical production can be assessed by the found metallurgical monuments, slag heaps, and copper mines. As a result of archaeological and geological discoveries in the Minusinsk Basin (Uzun-Jol, Bulan-Kol, Temir), made by scientists P.S. Pallas, D.A. Klementz, Ya.I. Sunchugashov, and others, ancient slag heaps, copper mines, and slags dating back to the 4th-3rd centuries BC were found. In one Temir alone, 9 heaps were discovered, with a volume of 190-887 m³.
At each mine, a considerable number of smelts were made; from one smelt, 250 g of copper was obtained. Near the copper smelting site, a granite slab (smenit) measuring 0.9 m was found. On its surface was a cup-shaped indentation for draining molten copper from the crucible; a conical pestle made of river pebbles measuring 13 cm, and a clay blowpipe. According to geologist D.F. Tomashpolsky, river pebbles from epidote rock were used as a pestle for crushing ore. Copper ingots in the form of cakes with a diameter of 0.2 m were often found.
Copper smelting was carried out: 1) in wood fires and on charcoal (Central Asia, the Middle East – 8th-6th centuries BC); 2) in underground and above-ground mountain furnaces without the supply of compressed air (Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Altai, Southern Siberia – 5th century BC to the 19th century); 3) in mountain crucible furnaces with the supply of compressed air (Central Asia, Altai, Southern Siberia – from the 3rd millennium BC to the 18th century). The furnaces were of various types: 1) Pit furnaces with a tuyere without a bellows; 2) semi-pit and above-ground furnaces with a tuyere, with the supply of compressed air; 3) semi-pit and above-ground crucible furnaces with a bellows; 4) underground and reflective furnaces with side, drain, and outlet openings (existed until the 19th century).
Ancient Kyrgyz metallurgists relied on classical principles of metal smelting when constructing a smelting furnace. If the ore heats and melts easily, then a low furnace is necessary for the smelters, and the tuyere should be installed at a slight angle to make blowing easy. If the ore heats and melts slowly, then a high furnace is required, with the tuyere at a steep incline. The designs of copper smelting furnaces in Southern Siberia during the Karasuk-Tagar period were similar in shape. In some places, even the sizes corresponded to each other. The copper smelting furnaces at Temir, according to Ya.I. Sunchugashov (Minusinsk Basin) and in the On-Kaja area, according to L.R. Kyzlasov (Tuva), have exactly the same design, similar sizes of chambers and hearths, and the choice of location for their furnaces. This indicates that there was a unified school of metallurgists. The main dimensions of the metal smelting furnaces (Southern Siberia and Altai), judging by the slag heaps, reached a length of 1.1-2.85 m, a width of 0.4-0.6 m; and a depth of 0.35-0.7 m.
The technological process of copper smelting, as many scholars note, has been preserved from ancient times to the 19th century. It is described in detail by the outstanding scientist, mineralogist, and metallurgist G. Agricola. He notes that a metallurgist must possess four main defining operations of smelting: 1) determining the composition of the ore, mastering the art of proportional addition of all components, and preparing the ore for loading into the furnace; 2) controlling the quantity and direction of the air stream coming from the bellows; 3) choosing places of strong fire combustion and determining the time for charging the ore; 4) supplying the necessary amount of water to moisten the internal space of the furnace, slightly moistening the charcoal to form a solid substance that prevents it from flying out with the smoke. The technological process of extracting native copper was carried out approximately as follows: 1) mining and crushing the nugget; 2) laying out and stacking wood logs, coal, and nuggets; 3) igniting the fire and obtaining a paste-like metal; 4) processing the metal and casting.
Mercury and Antimony Metallurgy.
Antimony-mercury metallurgy began to develop in Southern Siberia and Central Asia 3-3.5 thousand years BC. Ancient antimony-mercury furnaces have been found in Southern Fergana (Sart-Istogan, Dongurek, Kirpi, Chayan-Kamora). In certain areas of the deposits, in ancient workings, in the heaps of slag, and near the smelting furnace, tools for preparing ore, stone hammers, and sledges made of diorite, diabase, and diabase porphyrite were found. Their shapes were quite varied (flat, oval, pointed, and elongated): iron smithing tools, clay utensils (jugs, cup-shaped crucibles, two-horned pots, and various clay tubes).
Single-horned pots were found in Karasha (Central Asia, 5th century BC). Mercury smelting, as noted by Al-Biruni, was carried out in two ways: 1) mercury ore, consisting mainly of red stones, was placed in the furnace through an open outlet, heated to a glowing state until all the mercury flowed out of the cracks; 2) crushed and sorted ore was placed in closed gourd-shaped pots, distilled in retorts, and the mercury was collected in receivers. According to the found jug and vessels, the second method was restored by V.T. Surgai. Mercury has been used since ancient times in medicine, alchemy, and the manufacture of jewelry (gilding, silvering).
With the help of mercury, paste-like metallic masses of gold, silver, tin, and lead were obtained. The natural compound of mercury, cinnabar, was widely used in cosmetics and dyeing.
Gold and Silver Metallurgy.
Since ancient times, gold has been obtained in various ways: 1. Gold was melted in crucibles of copper smelting furnaces. As noted by the outstanding scientist Al-Biruni, as a result of repeated roasting, it leaves no significant trace on the test stone. It hardly adheres to it. The hardening of gold occurs in the furnace immediately after the blowing stops or at the very moment of extraction from the smelting furnace. 2. One of the oldest methods of obtaining gold is washing sand and concentrates using a wooden plate and utensils; another method: pits were dug on the banks of the river, filled with mercury, in which gold was absorbed, and after some time it was removed.
Some ancient tribes laid sheep skins in the river, and after some time, they removed them. The wool was impregnated with gold, which was removed by shaking the skin. As G. Agricola described in detail, gold and ores, their concentrates were melted in crucibles with the addition of borax, saltpeter, salt, antimony, and lead. They were melted until certain concentrates were fulfilled, and the alloy was poured into a mold. If necessary, it was separated from lead and silver.
To extract silver from ore, ancient foundry workers used the principle of adhesion to the liquid mass and separation from the ore using mercury, amalgam, and fat depending on the composition of the ore. 1. The enriched ore was spread in layers on a clean area in the yard or in vats, periodically moistened with mercury, splashed with water, and stirred with hand or mechanical devices, allowed to settle for 4-5 hours, during which time the mercury, coming into contact with metal particles, formed an amalgam, and due to diffusion, metal particles were extracted from the ore, then they were placed in a metal cauldron, and the mercury was evaporated to obtain silver. 2. Amalgamation of silver is especially easy in oxidized and sulfide ores.
The main components are mercury, water, and air. Amalgamation was carried out in wooden vats and inclined sluices. Reactions in the smelting furnace occur with the release of heat at temperatures below the melting point of silver and with the release of excess mercury. 3. One of the methods of the technological process of oxidative smelting - the separation of silver from the concentrate is reflected in the works of Al-Biruni. As is known, copper, lead, gold, zinc, and other elements are contained in silver alloys. Smelting was carried out in the smelting of copper, with the heating temperature reaching 1000-1100°C, followed by slow cooling to 340-360°C; copper lumps or "shliners" appeared, which were removed from the impurities of silver using large ladles (suzgu). The heating temperature was again raised to 900-1000°C, and air was supplied to the surface of the liquid alloy through a tuyere - tubes using bellows. In this process, zinc was driven off as vapor, lead oxide turned into powdery glet (murdansanuz), forming slag and remaining on the surface, after which it was removed. The remaining silver at the bottom with a low gold content was poured into cups through lower openings. 4. Another method of obtaining silver, as noted by R. Forbe in the book "Metallurgy of Antiquity": 1) the enriched ore was loaded into the furnace with charcoal, alternating layers, air was artificially blown in with a bellows through an open hole, resulting in "black lead"; 2) black lead was loaded into a smaller furnace, melted again, air streams came into contact with the metal, resulting in an oxidation process, producing black silver and lead oxide (PbO) in the form of powdery glet, with impurities going into the slag.
The smelting furnaces were pear-shaped in design. The furnaces were above-ground open type, having a cylindrical hearth; the bottoms were made of stone slabs using clay solutions; the walls were made of refractory boulders or raw bricks; the bottoms of the walls were coated with refractory clay solution; there were windows for firing considering the wind direction, openings for air supply to the firing, for draining and silver. Dimensions: length 1.65-3.2 m, width 1.2-2.5 m, depth 0.46-0.62 m.
Iron Metallurgy.
The metallurgical production of iron in Southern Siberia, Central Asia, Altai, and Eastern Kazakhstan, judging by ancient metallurgical monuments, began to be mastered in the Tagar period (7th-3rd centuries BC). The development of ferrous metallurgy dates back to the 4th-3rd centuries BC. It completely replaced bronze tools and weapons. S.V. Kiselev attached particular importance to the need to study iron metallurgy in Southern Siberia, noting that iron was mined in many places during the Kyrgyz period. The monuments of this are numerous iron mines, "Chudskye pits." They are located not only in the mountains surrounding the Minusinsk Basin but also on the spurs of the Sayan-Altai.
As noted by major researcher L.P. Potapov in the Altai region, "the southern Altaians and Kyrgyz were close to other tribes belonging to the same classification group of languages and having common ethnonyms, clan-tribal relations, such as Kipchak, Telez, Munduz." More than 30 metallurgical monuments have been discovered in Altai, the largest of which are in the Chuy-Kurai (Sayan-Altai region): bloomery furnaces, pits, slag heaps, slags, and numerous iron products.
During the Great Power of the Kyrgyz (6th-11th centuries), metallurgical production and metalworking for the manufacture of weapons, horse harnesses, and other products significantly increased, as evidenced by the found weapons and powerful iron slag heaps. In one slag heap near Znamensk, iron slag was found with a volume of 76 m³. Metallurgy among the Kyrgyz in Southern Siberia, Altai, and Tian Shan almost disappeared after the campaigns of Genghis Khan. Many masters were brutally killed, some craftsmen were taken to the Mongolian Empire, Manchuria, and other places. Settlements and cities were destroyed. However, a few craftsmen remained who passed down partial techniques of metal smelting to their descendants. These techniques have survived into the 19th century in Southern Siberia, Altai, and Tian Shan.
Modern Metallurgy.
The contribution of the metallurgy sector of the Kyrgyz Republic to the total volume of industrial production is about 50% (production of antimony and gold).
The production volume at the Kumtor mine in 2016 amounted to 16.2 tons for a total of 97.8 billion soms. The decline in this indicator in recent years is primarily attributed by specialists to the fact that during this period, zones with low ore content were being developed.
Today, several domestic enterprises and combined companies for the processing of iron and metal products are represented in the market. One of them is the "Metal Profile" Group of Companies. The Metal Profile company is a leading manufacturer of thin-sheet roofing and wall materials in Russia and the CIS, as well as the largest Russian producer of ventilated facade systems and sandwich panels. It has been in the market since 1996. According to the magazine "Metallurgical Supply and Sales," starting from 2002 to the present, Metal Profile has been the absolute industry leader in the total volume of processing thin-sheet coated steel.
The Metal Profile company https://metallprofil.kg/ was the first company in the Russian and domestic market to offer not just individual building materials, such as metal tiles and profiled sheets, but full-fledged comprehensive solutions for construction.
The roofing system for which Metal Profile produces a full range of products necessary for the construction of reliable and quality roofing.
The facade system includes the production of all elements of suspended ventilated facade systems with various cladding.
The enclosing structures offered by Metal Profile on the market are the most comprehensive in Russia, as they include all existing types of modern sandwich panels.
Performance Indicators
Revenue 2011 — 41 billion rubles, 2012 — 50.1 billion rubles, 2013 — 48.2 billion rubles.
According to VCIOM research results for 2013, Metal Profile is the number 1 manufacturer in the world market for construction materials made of thin-sheet coated steel, with a production volume of 830 thousand tons in 2013.
The Metal Profile company is a leader in the world market for the production of profiled sheets (100 million m² in 2013), metal tiles (over 31 million m² in 2013), and steel drainage systems.
In Russia and the CIS, Metal Profile is the largest producer of sandwich panels (3.5 million m² in 2013) and ventilated facades.
Staff count (2015) — 3,986 people.