Kryvyi Rih metropolitan area

The presence of iron ore in the regions around Kryvyi Rih has been known since at least 1781 and was rumoured before;[1] being known to the ancients.[2] Throughout the 1800s the region was investigated for its mineral wealth. Iron ore of 70% iron content and manganese ores were found. In 1881 the industrial extraction of iron ore from the near region began, alongside other developments such as the construction of the Kryvyi Rih railway. By 1884 over 100,000 tons of iron ore had been extracted, and the railway though Kryvyi Rih (the Yekateryninska railway), 477 versts (505,6 km) long, from Yasynuvata station via Kryvyi Rih to Dolynska station had been opened.[1] The production expanded rapidly in the next years, as it did in other industrialized regions and countries. By 1896 there were 20 mines producing over 1,000,000 tonnes of ore in the Kryvyi Rih Basin, and the population had exploded though the toll on the health of the working men had begun to be noticed.[1] Industrial expansion continued in the region up to 1917. Production dropped during the first world war due to lack of labour.[1]

Kryvyi Rih in c. 1905

After the formation of the Soviet Union and the expulsion of Austro-Hungarian forces and then anti-communist forces under Anton Denikin occupying the region relative normalcy was resumed.[1] Planning for the Kryvorizhstal began in 1929, with the intention being to produce an integrated steel plant taking iron ore and carbon all the way to finished steel products.[3] In 1931 the chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR - Grigori (Sergo) Ordzhonikidze signed a decree ordering its construction[4] and the same year the foundation stone of the metallurgical works was laid, workers included prison labourers, and initially German and Americans as well. In August 1934 the first metal was produced at Kryvorizhstal;[1] then known as 'Kryvyi Rih Metallurgical Works' (криворожский металлургический комбинат)[4]

Before the onset second world war the works operated 3 blast furnaces (of 3,160m³) and 2 open hearth furnaces along with a heat and power Kryvorizhstal, in 1941 a blooming mill of 1.7 million tonnes p.a. and a fourth blast furnace and a third open hearth furnace came on line shortly before nazi occupation.[5]

Prior to occupation by German military forces equipment and workers were evacuated to Nizhny Tagil in Siberia.[5] During the German administration (from the 14th of August 1941 to the 22nd of February 1944[1]), the Kryvorizhstal was destroyed.[6]

After the recapture of the area the complex was rebuilt, and continued to grow again; blast furnace No.7 was built in 1962, in 1970 blast furnace No.8 was built making the Kryvorizhstal the largest in Europe, and in 1974 blast furnace No.9 was opened[1] the biggest in the world with a volume of 5000m³.[7]

From the 1990s until 2004, once united and state-owned industries went through a hard and scandal-ridden process of privatization.

In January 2022 the Kryvyi Rih-based company Rudomain LLC acquired part of property of the Ukraine-owned unfinished industrial giant Kryvyi Rih Oxidized Ores Mining and Beneficiation Works (KOOMBW) in Dolynska town of Kirovohrad Oblast.[8]

The economy is largely based on industry and exports.

The South Ore's head office in the historical centre of Kryvyi Rih

Largest companies

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih

The quarry of Sothern Iron Ore Enrichment Works

The head office of Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Complex

• ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR)
• Central Iron Ore Enrichment Works (CGZK)
• Eastern Mining and Processing Plant (SkhidGZK) in Zhovti Vody
• Inhulets Iron Ore Enrichment Works (InGZK)
• Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Complex (KZRK)
• Kryvyi Rih Oxidized Ores Mining and Beneficiation Works (KGZKOR) in Dolynska
• New Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Enrichment Works (NKGZK)
• Northern Iron Ore Enrichment Works (PivnGZK)
• Sothern Iron Ore Enrichment Works (PivdGZK)
• Sukha Balka Mine