In addition to the ferrous metal (iron and steel) centers, nonferrous metallurgy also provided vital support for heavy industry, while undergoing technical innovation. The nonferrous branches had already expanded into ore-rich regions outside traditional industrial regions: copper metallurgy into the Kazakh Republic, the Caucasus, and Siberia; aluminum into the Kazakh Republic, south-central Siberia, and Soviet Central Asia; and nickel into eastern Siberia, the Urals, and the Kola Peninsula. The Soviet Union possesses abundant supplies of nonferrous metal ores, such as titanium, cobalt, chromium, nickel, and molybdenum, used in steel and iron alloys. Cobalt and nickel were specially targeted for expansion in the 1980s. Lead and zinc mining was projected to expand in the Kazakh Republic and other areas in Soviet Central Asia, Siberia, and the Soviet Far East.

Data as of May 1989

NOTE: The information regarding Soviet Union (former) on this page is re-published from The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Soviet Union (former) Nonferrous Metals information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Soviet Union (former) Nonferrous Metals should be addressed to the Library of Congress and the CIA.