Dzhezkazgan

a city (settlement prior to 1954), the center of Dzhezkazgan Oblast, Kazakh SSR. Located on the bank of the Kengir reservoir, which was constructed on the Kara-Kengir River. Railway station. Population, 65,000 (1971; 3,000 in 1939). Deposits of copper ore were discovered on the site of Dzhezkazgan in the late 18th century. An insignificant amount of it was mined early in the 20th century. During the Soviet period total industrial utilization of the deposit has been undertaken, and an important center of nonferrous metallurgy has arisen at the site. Here there is a mining-metallurgical industrial combine that extracts, smelts, and refines copper ore. Plans have been made for its further enlargement. There are in Dzhezkazgan steel works and foundries, a knitted-goods factory, a meat-packing plant and a dairy plant. The evening department of Karaganda Polytechnical Institute is located here, along with construction and mining technicums and medical and pedagogical schools.