Lake Balkhash
In 1928, the English capitalist Leslie Urquhart wrote to the Soviet Glavkontsesskom to ask if they would give him the opportunity to mine in the Kirghiz steppes, near Lake Balkhash and beyond. Ten years later, after two Five-Year Plans for the National Economy of the Soviet Union, the Bolshevik government discovered copper on the Kounrad hills, near Lake Balkhash. In the same year, on the northern shore of Lake Balkhash, a geological survey from Leningrad arrived which was led by engineer and geologist Michael Rusakov. This group conducted the first exploration of copper deposits and got encouraging results. Eventually, the expedition concluded that the area had abundant deposits of ore, and established a copper smelting factory. Rusakov telegraphed the Committee of Geology in Leningrad that a rich copper porphyry deposit had been discovered in Kounrad, near Lake Balkhash. Soon after that, the development of Kounrad area started. In October 1931, a management organization was created, with as its main task the construction of a copper smelting plant. The coast of Bertis Bay was approved as the location of the plants and affiliated cities. The chief of building was Vasily Ivanovich Ivanov, who was later arrested in 1938 and executed as an enemy of the people.