The Georgian metallurgy was recovered by the Chiatura-Zestafoni mining complex. This complex is the greatest achievement of the Georgian metallurgical potential which is connected with a name of the great patriot George Nikoladze (1888-1931) who was the first to solve at sunrise of electrometallurgy, a problem of receiving manganese from the Chiatura ores.

In 1930 at the Didube experimental plant G.N.Nikoladze and his followers received for the first time ferromanganese from local raw-materials - Chiatura ore, Tkhibuli coal, local limestone, Supsa and Chatakhi iron deposits. Therefore G.N.Nikoladze was first to declare about the technology of obtaining ferromanganese from Chiatura ores by electric welding.

Chiatura

The first all-union conference on the ferroalloys was held in Moscow In 1932. To this event was dedicated publication of the book - G.N.Nikoladze, I.R.Nizharadze, I.S.Lordkipanidze - "The results of experiments in ferromanganese smelting furnaces at the pilot plant in Tiflis." (State scientific and technical publishing house in engineering, metal and steel industry. ONTI.NKTP.USSR. 1932). Based upon the investigations described in the book there was built and in 1933 launched Zestafoni ferromanganese plant, which by initiative of Academician R.I.Agladze was named after G.N.Nikoladze in 1942. A remarkable detail to be mentioned is that the book manuscript was prepared for publication by an engineer Aleksey M. Samarin. This was Academician A.M.Samarin who in the sixties last century was heading the world-known scientific metallurgical center - Baikov metallurgy Institute and maintained lifelong close friendship with the Georgian metallurgists.

Irakli Lordkipanidze and Giorgi Nikoladze