Себестоимость золотодобычи в Дальстрое накануне и в годы Великой Отечественной войны
Gold Mining Cost in Dalstroy on the Eve and during the Great Patriotic War

Summary/Abstract: This article analyzes the cost of gold mining in Dalstroy before and during the Great Patriotic War based on archival documents from the State Archive of the Magadan Region. The structure of costs in 1940 — the year of record gold production (80 tons) — and their dynamics in 1941–1945 are examined. The study shows that in the pre-war period, Dalstroy achieved high economic production efficiency by developing rich deposits with high gold content in sands and through the extensive use of prisoner labor. Significant differences in labor costs are revealed: expenses for maintaining a prisoner worker were many times lower than costs for a free-hired worker, while the total costs associated with the use of forced labor accounted for about one-third of the total cost of gold mining. It is established that during the war years, there was a gradual decrease in production volumes with a simultaneous increase in production costs. One of the key factors in this growth was the increase in the proportion of free-hired workers from 10 to 44%, with a significantly higher cost of their labor (53,65 rubles per person-day compared to 17,31 rubles for prisoners in 1945), caused both by the declining efficiency of prisoner labor due to deteriorating detention conditions and by the production necessity for skilled personnel to maintain machinery and develop ore mining. The negative impact of these factors was partially offset by accelerated mechanization of production, development of tray mining, and optimization of the organizational structure. The authors conclude that, despite rising costs, Dalstroy maintained its role as a key gold supplier in the USSR, producing about 360 tons of metal during the period 1941–1945, which was of strategic importance for the country’s economy during wartime.

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