page_title: Berezniki
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Berezniki / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Провал в г.Березники на БРУ-1
context_page_description: Berezniki is a city in Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River, in the Ural Mountains. Population: 156,466; 173,077; 201,213.
context_section_description: After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the city's population dropped due to increased unemployment. Nevertheless, the city was able to keep its main industries on track. Large chemical plants such as titanium and sodium factories as well as several huge Potassium, Magnesium and Potash mines are operational in Berezniki.
  The potash mine, owned by Uralkali, was the basis of the fortune of Dmitry Rybolovlev who sold his interest in 2010 to Suleyman Kerimov. Mine supports in the huge underground mine, about 1,000 feet (~300 metres) beneath the city, consist of soluble salt which is being dissolved by water flooding into the mine. The city, a former Soviet era labor camp, was built near the work site, over the mine. Several sinkholes, some huge, have opened within the city. The situation requires round-the-clock monitoring. The problem is believed to be limited to a small part of the mine which was not filled properly and to be limited in its future impact, but relocation of the city is under consideration. The largest sinkhole, locally dubbed, "The Grandfather" by 2012, was 340 yards (~310 metres) wide, 430 yards (~390 metres) long, and 780 feet (~240 metres) deep. When it opened in 2007 the hole was initially 80 m long, 40 m wide and 200 m deep. The sinkhole was expected to expand, and destroy part of the only rail line which leads to and from the potash mines, and, being that Berezniki produces around 10% of the worlds potash, this would lead global demand towards Canada, potentially damaging the local economy. Nobody was injured when the sinkhole appeared.
caption: Failure in city Berezniki at the first potash plant
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "90", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "274", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "15170", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "640", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "533", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}