Magnitogorsk [key], city (1990 pop. 440,000), SW Siberian Russia, on the slopes of Mt. Magnitnaya in the S Urals, on the Ural River. Built (1929–31) under the first Five-Year Plan on the site of iron deposits, the city became a symbol of Soviet industrial growth. Coking coal for steel production comes from the Kuznetsk and Qaraghandy basins; there are also numerous coke and chemical plants. Magnitogorsk was a leading steel manufacturer during World War II, and though it is still a major metallurgical center, steel production has declined sharply.
See S. Kotkin, Steeltown, USSR (1992) and Magnetic Mountain (1995).
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