The first cooperative semolina mill in the Urals was the mill of the Kizel Consumers' Society.
The town of Kizel stands on the banks of the river of the same name (a right tributary of the Vilva). It took its name from the river. According to one version, the hydronym comes from the Tatar word “kyzyl” meaning “red” (because of the riverside thickets of wild rose and elder with their red berries). According to another hypothesis, it comes from the Komi “kydz yl”, meaning “birch headwaters”. The town is the administrative center of the Kizel District of Perm Krai.
In 1750, deposits of iron ore were discovered here. In 1762, a mine began operating. In 1786, a coal deposit was also discovered here.
In 1789, the Kizel Metallurgical Plant was launched; it belonged to I. L. Lazarev, who bought these lands from the Stroganovs. From 1797, coal mining began in the Kizel coal basin. At first, coal was extracted in the Zaprudnaya adit.
In 1856, the first and at that time the largest Staro-Korshunovskaya pit went into operation. However, until the late 1870s, coal was mined in insignificant quantities. When traffic opened in 1879 on the railway built here, coal output began to grow. See for yourself: in 1875, 1 million poods were mined; in 1880, 5.3 million poods; and by 1900, already 21.1 million poods. In that same year, 1900, there were 36 operating mines and adits in the Kizel basin.
The Kizel Metallurgical Plant operated until 1919.