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72-459: The settlement was named for the nearby Mount Iultin. According to one source, the name translated from the Chukchi means "long icicle", though another source translates the name as "long feathers." It is thought that either of these translations are due to the variety of quartz veins on the mountains slopes. The settlement was created following the discovery in 1937 of tin and tungsten deposits in

144-473: A druse (a layer of crystals lining a void), of which quartz geodes are particularly fine examples. The crystals are attached at one end to the enclosing rock, and only one termination pyramid is present. However, doubly terminated crystals do occur where they develop freely without attachment, for instance, within gypsum . α-quartz crystallizes in the trigonal crystal system, space group P 3 1 21 or P 3 2 21 (space group 152 or 154 resp.) depending on

216-448: A framework silicate mineral and compositionally as an oxide mineral . Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earth 's continental crust , behind feldspar . Quartz exists in two forms, the normal α-quartz and the high-temperature β-quartz, both of which are chiral . The transformation from α-quartz to β-quartz takes place abruptly at 573 °C (846 K; 1,063 °F). Since

288-560: A pressure cooker . However, the quality and size of the crystals that were produced by these early efforts were poor. Elemental impurity incorporation strongly influences the ability to process and utilize quartz. Naturally occurring quartz crystals of extremely high purity, necessary for the crucibles and other equipment used for growing silicon wafers in the semiconductor industry, are expensive and rare. These high-purity quartz are defined as containing less than 50 ppm of impurity elements. A major mining location for high purity quartz

360-640: A burial context, such as Newgrange or Carrowmore in Ireland . Quartz was also used in Prehistoric Ireland , as well as many other countries, for stone tools ; both vein quartz and rock crystal were knapped as part of the lithic technology of the prehistoric peoples. While jade has been since earliest times the most prized semi-precious stone for carving in East Asia and Pre-Columbian America, in Europe and

432-482: A defining constituent of granite and other felsic igneous rocks . It is very common in sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and shale . It is a common constituent of schist , gneiss , quartzite and other metamorphic rocks . Quartz has the lowest potential for weathering in the Goldich dissolution series and consequently it is very common as a residual mineral in stream sediments and residual soils . Generally

504-503: A handful of people removed before the first winter snowfalls in September. Although other sources suggest that the settlement was only fully shut down by the Chukotkan regional administration in 1996, and that the shutdown was completed with all services cut off before a number of residents had been able to move away. The population table below shows the impact on the settlement as a result of

576-584: A high presence of quartz suggests a " mature " rock, since it indicates the rock has been heavily reworked and quartz was the primary mineral that endured heavy weathering. While the majority of quartz crystallizes from molten magma , quartz also chemically precipitates from hot hydrothermal veins as gangue , sometimes with ore minerals like gold, silver and copper. Large crystals of quartz are found in magmatic pegmatites . Well-formed crystals may reach several meters in length and weigh hundreds of kilograms. The largest documented single crystal of quartz

648-650: A port to help supply the mine, and in 1946, the MV Sovetskaya Latviya , one of a fleet of ships used by Dalstroy to transport prisoners to the Kolyma gulag , landed in the Kresta Bay to begin construction. Extreme conditions meant that, as in the construction of the Road of Bones , many prisoners died working and were buried where they fell and incorporated into the foundations of the port. Such bodies are still discovered during

720-557: A small Brazilian mine, but it is also seen in Lower Silesia in Poland . Naturally occurring prasiolite is also found in the Thunder Bay area of Canada . Quartz crystals have piezoelectric properties; they develop an electric potential upon the application of mechanical stress . Quartz's piezoelectric properties were discovered by Jacques and Pierre Curie in 1880. Quartz is

792-437: A submicroscopic distribution of colloidal ferric hydroxide impurities. Natural citrines are rare; most commercial citrines are heat-treated amethysts or smoky quartzes . However, a heat-treated amethyst will have small lines in the crystal, as opposed to a natural citrine's cloudy or smoky appearance. It is nearly impossible to differentiate between cut citrine and yellow topaz visually, but they differ in hardness . Brazil

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864-669: A superstition that it would bring prosperity. Citrine was first appreciated as a golden-yellow gemstone in Greece between 300 and 150 BC, during the Hellenistic Age . Yellow quartz was used prior to that to decorate jewelry and tools but it was not highly sought after. Milk quartz or milky quartz is the most common variety of crystalline quartz. The white color is caused by minute fluid inclusions of gas, liquid, or both, trapped during crystal formation, making it of little value for optical and quality gemstone applications. Rose quartz

936-538: Is a form of quartz that ranges from a bright vivid violet to a dark or dull lavender shade. The world's largest deposits of amethysts can be found in Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Russia, France, Namibia, and Morocco. Sometimes amethyst and citrine are found growing in the same crystal. It is then referred to as ametrine . Amethyst derives its color from traces of iron in its structure. Blue quartz contains inclusions of fibrous magnesio-riebeckite or crocidolite . Inclusions of

1008-419: Is a monoclinic polymorph. Lechatelierite is an amorphous silica glass SiO 2 which is formed by lightning strikes in quartz sand . As quartz is a form of silica, it is a possible cause for concern in various workplaces. Cutting, grinding, chipping, sanding, drilling, and polishing natural and manufactured stone products can release hazardous levels of very small, crystalline silica dust particles into

1080-456: Is a primary identifier for the macrocrystalline varieties. Pure quartz, traditionally called rock crystal or clear quartz, is colorless and transparent or translucent and has often been used for hardstone carvings , such as the Lothair Crystal . Common colored varieties include citrine, rose quartz, amethyst, smoky quartz, milky quartz, and others. These color differentiations arise from

1152-400: Is a type of quartz that exhibits a pale pink to rose red hue. The color is usually considered as due to trace amounts of titanium , iron , or manganese in the material. Some rose quartz contains microscopic rutile needles that produce asterism in transmitted light. Recent X-ray diffraction studies suggest that the color is due to thin microscopic fibers of possibly dumortierite within

1224-620: Is located in the northeast of the autonomous okrug and borders with the Chukchi Sea in the north, Providensky District in the east, Gulf of Anadyr in the southeast, and with Anadyrsky District in the southwest. The area of the district is 134,600 square kilometers (52,000 sq mi). Its administrative center is the urban locality (an urban-type settlement ) of Egvekinot . Population: 4,329 ( 2010 Census ) ; 3,974 ( 2002 Census ) ; 15,689 ( 1989 Soviet census ) . The population of Egvekinot accounts for 64.4% of

1296-514: Is often twinned , synthetic quartz is produced for use in industry. Large, flawless, single crystals are synthesized in an autoclave via the hydrothermal process . Like other crystals, quartz may be coated with metal vapors to give it an attractive sheen. Quartz is the most common material identified as the mystical substance maban in Australian Aboriginal mythology . It is found regularly in passage tomb cemeteries in Europe in

1368-690: Is the mineral defining the value of 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness , a qualitative scratch method for determining the hardness of a material to abrasion. The word "quartz" is derived from the German word Quarz , which had the same form in the first half of the 14th century in Middle High German and in East Central German and which came from the Polish dialect term twardy , which corresponds to

1440-702: Is the Spruce Pine Gem Mine in Spruce Pine, North Carolina , United States. Quartz may also be found in Caldoveiro Peak , in Asturias , Spain. By the 1930s, the electronics industry had become dependent on quartz crystals. The only source of suitable crystals was Brazil; however, World War II disrupted the supplies from Brazil, so nations attempted to synthesize quartz on a commercial scale. German mineralogist Richard Nacken (1884–1971) achieved some success during

1512-471: Is the leading producer of citrine, with much of its production coming from the state of Rio Grande do Sul . The name is derived from the Latin word citrina which means "yellow" and is also the origin of the word " citron ". Sometimes citrine and amethyst can be found together in the same crystal, which is then referred to as ametrine . Citrine has been referred to as the "merchant's stone" or "money stone", due to

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1584-556: Is the main economic driver, Uelkal , is the most westerly Eskimo settlement in the world. In addition to the airports, Iultinsky District also contains the longest road in Chukotka, which goes from Egvekinot to Iultin through indigenous settlements such as Amguema . There are also a number of winter and tractor roads which branch off from the main Iultinskaya Road serving settlements such as Svetly and Vostochny , as well as some of

1656-412: Is used for very accurate measurements of very small mass changes in the quartz crystal microbalance and in thin-film thickness monitors . Almost all the industrial demand for quartz crystal (used primarily in electronics) is met with synthetic quartz produced by the hydrothermal process. However, synthetic crystals are less prized for use as gemstones. The popularity of crystal healing has increased

1728-576: The Czech term tvrdý ("hard"). Some sources, however, attribute the word's origin to the Saxon word Querkluftertz , meaning cross-vein ore . The Ancient Greeks referred to quartz as κρύσταλλος ( krustallos ) derived from the Ancient Greek κρύος ( kruos ) meaning "icy cold", because some philosophers (including Theophrastus ) understood the mineral to be a form of supercooled ice. Today,

1800-469: The Neolithic Period along almost all the significant rivers in the district. Further excavations around Vankarem , Nutepelmen , and Uelkal indicate that there was a change in hunting practices during the 3rd millennium BCE as the native people began not only to follow migrating animals in the tundra, but also to hunt animals at sea. The locations of the archeological discoveries have established that

1872-524: The hexagonal crystal system above 573 °C (846 K; 1,063 °F). The ideal crystal shape is a six-sided prism terminating with six-sided pyramid-like rhombohedrons at each end. In nature, quartz crystals are often twinned (with twin right-handed and left-handed quartz crystals), distorted, or so intergrown with adjacent crystals of quartz or other minerals as to only show part of this shape, or to lack obvious crystal faces altogether and appear massive . Well-formed crystals typically form as

1944-602: The 1930s and 1940s. After the war, many laboratories attempted to grow large quartz crystals. In the United States, the U.S. Army Signal Corps contracted with Bell Laboratories and with the Brush Development Company of Cleveland, Ohio to synthesize crystals following Nacken's lead. (Prior to World War II, Brush Development produced piezoelectric crystals for record players.) By 1948, Brush Development had grown crystals that were 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) in diameter,

2016-453: The Earth's crust exposed to high temperatures, thereby damaging materials containing quartz and degrading their physical and mechanical properties. Although many of the varietal names historically arose from the color of the mineral, current scientific naming schemes refer primarily to the microstructure of the mineral. Color is a secondary identifier for the cryptocrystalline minerals, although it

2088-460: The Middle East the different varieties of quartz were the most commonly used for the various types of jewelry and hardstone carving , including engraved gems and cameo gems , rock crystal vases , and extravagant vessels. The tradition continued to produce objects that were very highly valued until the mid-19th century, when it largely fell from fashion except in jewelry. Cameo technique exploits

2160-496: The Ministry for Railways was to provide assistance in transporting inhabitants to their new homes and that the Ministry for Nationalities provide assistance for the inhabitants to find new housing and employment in their new homes. However, in reality, the inhabitants of Iultin were effectively abandoned with little in the way of assistance and compensation. As well as the plant and mine workers, those employed in ancillary services such as

2232-441: The air that workers breathe. Crystalline silica of respirable size is a recognized human carcinogen and may lead to other diseases of the lungs such as silicosis and pulmonary fibrosis . Not all varieties of quartz are naturally occurring. Some clear quartz crystals can be treated using heat or gamma-irradiation to induce color where it would not otherwise have occurred naturally. Susceptibility to such treatments depends on

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2304-406: The area. The settlement is extremely isolated and was initially not connected by any form of road to any other settlement, with supplies initially needing to be delivered by tractor convoy, a journey of some 400 km, often undertaken in bitter arctic conditions, which severely limited the distance the convoy could travel each day. Life was equally hard for the initial 73 settlers, who had to endure

2376-423: The autonomous okrug. Outside of the main urban area of Egvekinot, the economy is driven mainly by either mineral extraction (the area is rich in pewter and wolframite as well as coal ), traditional indigenous reindeer herding or sea-based hunting, with Chukchi farming centers such as Amguema, Vankarem , and Konergino holding nearly 25,000 head of reindeer in 2005. One of the settlements where marine hunting

2448-660: The bakery, other shops and farms supplying goods to the plant and mine workers were also equally hard hit by the liquidation. Not all industries were so hard hit. The education department, based in Egvekinot, evacuated its staff and assets from Iultin and distributed them around the remaining schools in Iultinsky District . Likewise, the Department for Public Works removed assets such as trucks and buses from Iultin and used them to bolster their resources around Egvekinot. Employees of

2520-407: The bands of color in onyx and other varieties. Efforts to synthesize quartz began in the mid-nineteenth century as scientists attempted to create minerals under laboratory conditions that mimicked the conditions in which the minerals formed in nature: German geologist Karl Emil von Schafhäutl (1803–1890) was the first person to synthesize quartz when in 1845 he created microscopic quartz crystals in

2592-444: The chirality. Above 573 °C (846 K; 1,063 °F), α-quartz in P 3 1 21 becomes the more symmetric hexagonal P 6 4 22 (space group 181), and α-quartz in P 3 2 21 goes to space group P 6 2 22 (no. 180). These space groups are truly chiral (they each belong to the 11 enantiomorphous pairs). Both α-quartz and β-quartz are examples of chiral crystal structures composed of achiral building blocks (SiO 4 tetrahedra in

2664-402: The closure of the mines. A number of these individuals refused to leave the settlement for a number of years and survived in a subsistence manner, living off foraged berries and on fish caught in local rivers. One remaining inhabitant is reported as having earned money by distilling spirits for sale to the few passing geologists in the area, but essentially there was no economic structure left in

2736-466: The crystal structure. Prase is a green variety of quartz. The green color is caused by inclusions of amphibole . Prasiolite , also known as vermarine , is a variety of quartz that is green in color. The green is caused by iron ions. It is a rare mineral in nature and is typically found with amethyst; most "prasiolite" is not natural – it has been artificially produced by heating of amethyst. Since 1950 , almost all natural prasiolite has come from

2808-433: The crystals. Tridymite and cristobalite are high-temperature polymorphs of SiO 2 that occur in high-silica volcanic rocks. Coesite is a denser polymorph of SiO 2 found in some meteorite impact sites and in metamorphic rocks formed at pressures greater than those typical of the Earth's crust. Stishovite is a yet denser and higher-pressure polymorph of SiO 2 found in some meteorite impact sites. Moganite

2880-480: The demand for natural quartz crystals, which are now often mined in developing countries using primitive mining methods, sometimes involving child labor . Iultinsky District Iultinsky District ( Russian : Иу́льтинский райо́н ; Chukchi : Ивылтин район , Ivyltin rajon ) is an administrative and municipal district ( raion ), one of the six in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug , Russia . It

2952-519: The district administration in Iultin fared significantly better than those employed in the mines or power plants. These employees were absorbed into the local administration in Egvekinot. This absorption was so successful that in 2002, seven years after the liquidation of Iultin, the deputy district chief was the former Mayor of Iultin and the heads of the departments for education, agriculture and social welfare were also former inhabitants of Iultin. In this way,

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3024-598: The district are only reachable either by sea or by helicopter. The main lakes in the district are Ekityki , Ervynaygytgyn and Yanranaygytgyn . It is thought that the area of what is now Iultinsky District was where the first people settled in Chukotka during the Paleolithic Age . Archaeological excavations have uncovered stone age camps and tools along the banks of both the Kymynanonvyaam and Maravaam Rivers . A greater number of camps has been unearthed dating from

3096-518: The district is part of the Chukotka Mountains . The northwest is drained by the Amguema River . This valley is a key resource for the part of the population that does not live by the sea and contains the only significant stretch of road in the district, running from Egvekinot, through the indigenous locality of Amguema , to the now defunct mining settlement of Iultin . Other populated places in

3168-526: The district's total population. The territory of the modern district has been populated since the Paleolithic age, though indigenous people are outnumbered by ethnic Russians by over three to one. The district was once a major center for mining tin and tungsten at Iultin , with the infrastructure built by gulag prisoners, but these mines have proved uneconomical in recent years and closed with their associated settlements abandoned. Iultinsky District covers

3240-443: The geological and mining camps in the district. Within the framework of administrative divisions , Iultinsky District is one of the six in the autonomous okrug. The urban-type settlement of Egvekinot serves as its administrative center . The district does not have any lower-level administrative divisions and has administrative jurisdiction over three urban-type settlements and eight rural localities , consisting of all seven of

3312-442: The hands. This idea persisted until at least the 17th century. He also knew of the ability of quartz to split light into a spectrum . In the 17th century, Nicolas Steno 's study of quartz paved the way for modern crystallography . He discovered that regardless of a quartz crystal's size or shape, its long prism faces always joined at a perfect 60° angle. Quartz belongs to the trigonal crystal system at room temperature, and to

3384-499: The harsh winter either in tents or plywood houses. This means of supplying the settlement was ultimately impractical and in 1946, a large group of prisoners disembarked from the MV Sovetskaya Latviya in Kresta Bay and began construction of the port town of Egvekinot and the 200 km road from Egvekinot through the indigenous settlement of Amguema to Iul'tin. A diesel power plant was constructed in 1952 in Iultin to provide power to

3456-437: The impurities of phosphate and aluminium that formed crystalline rose quartz, unlike the iron and microscopic dumortierite fibers that formed rose quartz. Smoky quartz is a gray, translucent version of quartz. It ranges in clarity from almost complete transparency to a brownish-gray crystal that is almost opaque. Some can also be black. The translucency results from natural irradiation acting on minute traces of aluminum in

3528-523: The inhabitants of all the settlements along the Iultin-Egvekinot road. Iultin was a highly valued resource during Soviet times, with the mines on a list of the top one hundred most strategically valuable resources in the whole country. However, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the eradication of a centrally planned economy and the advent of private markets, the true cost of the Iultin mines

3600-452: The largest at that time. By the 1950s, hydrothermal synthesis techniques were producing synthetic quartz crystals on an industrial scale, and today virtually all the quartz crystal used in the modern electronics industry is synthetic. An early use of the piezoelectricity of quartz crystals was in phonograph pickups. One of the most common piezoelectric uses of quartz today is as a crystal oscillator . The quartz oscillator or resonator

3672-506: The location from which the quartz was mined. Prasiolite, an olive colored material, is produced by heat treatment; natural prasiolite has also been observed in Lower Silesia in Poland. Although citrine occurs naturally, the majority is the result of heat-treating amethyst or smoky quartz. Carnelian has been heat-treated to deepen its color since prehistoric times. Because natural quartz

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3744-421: The mineral dumortierite within quartz pieces often result in silky-appearing splotches with a blue hue. Shades of purple or gray sometimes also are present. "Dumortierite quartz" (sometimes called "blue quartz") will sometimes feature contrasting light and dark color zones across the material. "Blue quartz" is a minor gemstone. Citrine is a variety of quartz whose color ranges from pale yellow to brown due to

3816-567: The northeastern part of the Chukchi Peninsula , except for its easternmost part, and touches two oceans. In the north, the district borders the Chukchi Sea and Wrangel Island . To the south lies the administrative center and small port of Egvekinot , located on the Kresta Bay of the Gulf of Anadyr . To the south of the Kresta Bay it reaches almost to the Anadyr Estuary . The central part of

3888-494: The presence of impurities which change the molecular orbitals, causing some electronic transitions to take place in the visible spectrum causing colors. The most important distinction between types of quartz is that of macrocrystalline (individual crystals visible to the unaided eye) and the microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline varieties ( aggregates of crystals visible only under high magnification). The cryptocrystalline varieties are either translucent or mostly opaque, while

3960-403: The present case). The transformation between α- and β-quartz only involves a comparatively minor rotation of the tetrahedra with respect to one another, without a change in the way they are linked. However, there is a significant change in volume during this transition, and this can result in significant microfracturing in ceramics during firing, in ornamental stone after a fire and in rocks of

4032-579: The primary employer in the district shifted from the mines and plants of Iultin and their auxiliary services to the state. Little effort has been made to clean up the local environment following the abolition of the settlement. Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide ). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO 4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra , with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of SiO 2 . Quartz is, therefore, classified structurally as

4104-504: The quartz. Additionally, there is a rare type of pink quartz (also frequently called crystalline rose quartz) with color that is thought to be caused by trace amounts of phosphate or aluminium . The color in crystals is apparently photosensitive and subject to fading. The first crystals were found in a pegmatite found near Rumford , Maine , US, and in Minas Gerais , Brazil. The crystals found are more transparent and euhedral, due to

4176-412: The sea-fishing communities have been in existence in their current locations for a considerable period of time. After Semyon Dezhnyov and his Cossack companions had established Anadyrsk in the 17th century, they began to explore the surrounding area and discovered the Kresta Bay in 1660, although it was not mapped properly until it was visited by Vitus Bering seventy years later. The district

4248-588: The settlement could continue to be supplied, a road was built linking Egvekinot, Amguema, and Iultin. During World War II , the territory played an important role in the Soviet supply chain, providing the eastern end of the Uelkal- Krasnoyarsk air route, used by Russia for the delivery of the Lend-Lease planes provide by the United States. Following the end of World War II, Dalstroy used forced labor to build

4320-467: The settlement, and in 1959, a steam-driven plant in Ozyorny was completed to augment the power supply both to Iul'tin and Egvekinot. Iultin was a key element of the Chukotkan economy during Soviet times. The port of Egvekinot provided the means to transport the tin and tungsten mined in Iultin to the wider world, and the village of Amguema was the base of the reindeer herding sovkhoz , which provided meat for

4392-542: The settlement. Despite Iultin being liquidated in 1995, there are reports that some of those who refused to leave were still living in the abandoned settlement in 2002. Individuals employed in the mines and other plants in Iultin were particularly hard hit by the liquidation of the settlement. The decree issued by Chernomyrdin guaranteed that residents would be moved from Iultin to other settlements, that they would be given housing worth 250,000 rubles, and have transportation costs paid for no more than one ton of possessions, that

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4464-442: The spring thaw each year. In order to provide the necessary power to the mines at Iultin, two power stations—one diesel, one steam-powered—were constructed in Ozyorny (now a microdistrict of Egvekinot); however, in recent years, mining in the region has proved impractical and the mines at Iultin were closed and the settlement abandoned, with the population moving to Egvekinot. Before May 2008, Iultinsky Administrative District

4536-508: The term rock crystal is sometimes used as an alternative name for transparent coarsely crystalline quartz. Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder believed quartz to be water ice , permanently frozen after great lengths of time. He supported this idea by saying that quartz is found near glaciers in the Alps, but not on volcanic mountains, and that large quartz crystals were fashioned into spheres to cool

4608-502: The total population. The district is bisected by both the Arctic Circle and the line of the 180° longitude. The main center of economic activity is around Egvekinot and its Ozyorny Microdistrict , a former rural locality now abolished and merged with Egvekinot. This settlement contains the main sea port, a hydroelectric power plant, and the district's principal airport, with Chukotavia providing air service to all major airports within

4680-438: The transformation is accompanied by a significant change in volume, it can easily induce microfracturing of ceramics or rocks passing through this temperature threshold. There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are classified as gemstones . Since antiquity, varieties of quartz have been the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings , especially in Europe and Asia. Quartz

4752-414: The transparent varieties tend to be macrocrystalline. Chalcedony is a cryptocrystalline form of silica consisting of fine intergrowths of both quartz, and its monoclinic polymorph moganite . Other opaque gemstone varieties of quartz, or mixed rocks including quartz, often including contrasting bands or patterns of color, are agate , carnelian or sard, onyx , heliotrope , and jasper . Amethyst

4824-423: Was amended and the name Vostochny was discarded with the combined municipal district being renamed Iultinsky Municipal District. Shmidtovsky Administrative District was merged into Iultinsky Administrative District effective June 13, 2011. The population consists mainly of Russians, although Chukchi , the dominant native people in the district and other indigenous peoples such as Yupik make up about 24% of

4896-420: Was first developed by Walter Guyton Cady in 1921. George Washington Pierce designed and patented quartz crystal oscillators in 1923. The quartz clock is a familiar device using the mineral. Warren Marrison created the first quartz oscillator clock based on the work of Cady and Pierce in 1927. The resonant frequency of a quartz crystal oscillator is changed by mechanically loading it, and this principle

4968-541: Was found near Itapore , Goiaz , Brazil; it measured approximately 6.1 m × 1.5 m × 1.5 m (20 ft × 5 ft × 5 ft) and weighed over 39,900 kg (88,000 lb). Quartz is extracted from open pit mines . Miners occasionally use explosives to expose deep pockets of quartz. More frequently, bulldozers and backhoes are used to remove soil and clay and expose quartz veins, which are then worked using hand tools. Care must be taken to avoid sudden temperature changes that may damage

5040-453: Was founded on December 2, 1953. The economy on this territory received a major boost following the discovery in the 1930s of significant deposits of tin and tungsten in Mount Iultin . This discovery resulted in the creation of the settlement of Iultin. Initially the settlement was kept supplied by a convoy of tractors, but it was difficult to make significant progress and so to ensure

5112-402: Was municipally incorporated as Iultinsky Municipal District. In May 2008, Iultinsky and Shmidtovsky Municipal Districts were merged, forming an enlarged Vostochny Municipal District. This change, however, did not affect the administrative aspect of these districts. Both Iultinsky and Shmidtovsky Administrative Districts continued to exist separately. In October 2008, the law mandating the change

5184-558: Was revealed, and it was not economically viable to extract and transport the metals there. A government decree was issued in December 1995 by the then Prime Minister , Victor Chernomyrdin , to formalize the liquidation of the settlement. The settlement was officially abolished in 1995, with the industrial plants closed in May of that year, all utilities (water, gas and heating) cut off in June, and all but

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