Origin and development of technology and equipment of open pit iron ore mining in the USSR

The article reviews development of the open pit method of mineral mining in the USSR in the 1950s–1960s with a spotlight put on iron ore production. The main trends of technology and equipment of open pit iron ore mining are characterized, namely: drilling and blasting, excavation, transport, continuous flow processes, including hydraulic mining. The science and technology interaction is discussed as a case-study of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly as a peculiar testing area of a novel open pit equipment. An important source of information were the publications of Gornyi Zhurnal addressing various scientific and technological aspects of open pit mining.