Bakal

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For other uses, see Bakal (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 54°56′N, 58°48′E

Coat of arms of Bakal
Coat of arms of Bakal

Bakal (Russian: Бакал) is a town in Satkinsky District, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Western slopes of the Ural Mountains 264 km west from Chelyabinsk, on the railroad branch Chelyabinsk–Ufa. Population: 22,314 (2002 Census); 24,101 (1989 Census).

Bakal was founded in 1757 as a settlement of serfs resettled to man new Bakal iron ore mines owned by the association of Ivan and Yakov Tverdyshev (Иван & Яков Твердышевы) and Ivan Myasnikov (Мясников Иван Семе­нович).

Town was granted to Bakal on October 25, 1951.

The main enterprise is public company "Bakal Mining Administration" (ОАО "Бакальское рудоуправление", commonly referred by its abbreviation, "БРУ"). The bureaucratic-style name is inherited from Soviet times.

During 1941-1943 a gulag labor camp existed in the area known as Bakal ITL ("Bakal Corrective Labor Camp"), Bakallag (Бакаллаг, abbr. for "Bakal camp") or Bakalstroy of USSR NKVD (Бакалстрой, abbr. for "Bakal construction"), with headquarters in Chelyabinsk. Main occupations: construction of a metallurgic, coke, and other plants, logging, mining. Peak inmate count: about 4,200. In addition, Bakalstruy was manned by Germans (peak count: over 27,000 (January 1942)).

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Cities and towns in Chelyabinsk Oblast
Administrative center: Chelyabinsk
Coat of arms of Chelyabinsk Oblast Flag of Chelyabinsk Oblast