Geographical Approaches to the Study of Extractive Industries

The locational patterns of development of extractive industry in the USSR have been neglected as an object of study in Soviet economic geography. The geography of resource-based industry is determined by two groups of factors: natural and economic. Research is needed to establish the quantitative parameters of the effect of natural factors on location. The most significant economic factor of location is technical progress. A basic problem in the development of extractive industry in the Soviet Union has been the areal disparity between availability of resources and resource use. The disparity is most evident between the western and eastern zones of the country. Soviet economic regions can be grouped according to their share in the gross output of all extractive industry. Within groups, regions can be distinguished according to the extent to which available resources are being used. Resource-based industries tend to form the core of industrial complexes, particularly in pioneering regions where the economy is in its early stages of development. Five types of resource complexes are distinguished: energy-oriented complexes, ore-based complexes, fishery complexes, timber complexes, and nonmetallic mineral complexes.