Asbest is a town in Sverdlovsk Oblast

Sverdlovsk Oblast

Sverdlovsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia located in the Urals Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Yekaterinburg formerly known as Sverdlovsk. Population: -Geography:...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, located on the Bolshoy Reft River (right tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Pyshma

Pyshma River

Pyshma is a river in Sverdlovsk and Tyumen Oblasts of Russia. It is a tributary of the Tura, and is 603 km long, with a drainage basin of 19 700 km²....

) on the eastern slopes of the Urals

Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...

, 70 kilometres (43.5 mi) northeast of Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...

. Population: Postal code: 624260. International dialing code: +7 (34365).

History

It was founded in 1889 as Kudelka . It was granted town status and given its present name in 1933. The town is named for its asbestos

Asbestos

Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...

 industry.

Administrative and municipal status

Administratively, along with the work settlements

Urban-type settlement

Urban-type settlement ; , selyshche mis'koho typu ) is an official designation for a type of locality used in some of the countries of the former Soviet Union...

 of Malysheva and Reftinsky and five rural localities, the town is incorporated as the Town

City of federal subject significance

City of federal subject significance is an umbrella term used to refer to a type of an administrative division of a federal subject of Russia which is equal in status to a district but is organized around a large city; occasionally with surrounding rural territories.According to the 1993...

 of Asbest—an administrative unit with a status equal to that of the districts

Administrative divisions of Sverdlovsk Oblast

*Towns under the federal government management:**Novouralsk ***with 1 selsovet under the town's jurisdiction.**Lesnoy ***Urban-type settlements under the town's jurisdiction and the federal government management:...

.

Municipally, Asbest and two rural localities are incorporated as Asbestovsky Urban Okrug. The urban-type settlement of Malysheva, along with three other rural localities, is independently incorporated as Malyshevsky Urban Okrug, and the urban-type settlement of Reftinsky is incorporated as Reftinsky Urban Okrug.

Economy

Today's Asbest is a large industrial center. Joint-stock company Uralasbest is the main industrial enterprise. The chrysotile

Chrysotile

Chrysotile or white asbestos is the most commonly encountered form of asbestos, accounting for approximately 95% of the asbestos in place in the United States and a similar proportion in other countries. It is a soft, fibrous silicate mineral in the serpentine group of phyllosilicates; as such, it...

 (asbestos) mine adjacent to the town is the subject of published, peer-reviewed scientific investigations and is said to be the world's largest. The adjacent open-pit Uralasbest mine is said to be "seven miles (11 km) long and 1 to 1.5 miles (2.5 km) wide, (and) it is nearly half the size of Manhattan — and more than a thousand feet (300 meters) deep".

Other factories include UralATI, Zarechny, Asbostroy, Asbestovskaya poultry processing plant, and a ferroconcrete production factory. Asbestos

Asbestos

Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...

, brick

Brick

A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...

s, porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

, furniture, metal constructions, and other products are produced in Asbest.

Education and recreation

The town is home to the Uralasbest stadium, which seats ten thousand people. Educational facilities include music schools, a school of art, an Olympic school, an institute of science and research, professional schools, and colleges of mining and economics. There are two museums: a geological museum and a museum of local lore.