By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR of September 6, 1931, the State Institute of Rare and Small Metals was established.
The first director of the Institute was a prominent scientist and talented organizer Vera Ilyinichna Glebova.
In a short time, the institute solved the issues of creating an industrial base for the production of rare metals, such as vanadium, niobium and tantalum, beryllium compounds, etc. In a very short time, more than 30 elements of the Periodic System became objects of research and development of the Institute.
It is impossible to overestimate the achievements of the Institute in the field of exploration of deposits, processing of raw materials and obtaining the first Soviet pure metallic uranium in 1944.
90 years have passed since the foundation of Giredmet. This is not just a glorious date from the history of the head research institute of the industry, this date symbolizes the ninetieth anniversary of the national science of rare earth metals.
The technologies developed by the Institute have been implemented at many dozens of enterprises in Russia and abroad working in the field of electronics, nuclear energy, instrumentation, aircraft and rocket engineering, microwave technology, IR optics, superconducting technology, etc., as well as in the field of extraction and processing of mineral raw materials containing RM, REM and precious metals.
For almost 40 years (from 1933 to 1969) Nikolai Petrovich was the scientific director of our institute. During this time, Giredmet has become the largest research and design institute in the system of non-ferrous metallurgy and technology of rare metals and semiconductor materials.
The history of the Institute began with the creation of the State Institute of Rare and Small Metals (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 628 of September 6, 1931). At that time, the main tasks of the Institute were the study of mineral raw materials containing rare elements; the study of proven reserves, extraction and enrichment of rare-element ores; the study and creation of methods for the complex development of rare-element raw materials to obtain semi-finished products and finished products in the form of metals, their compounds and alloys; coordination and planned management of all research works on rare elements in industry. In a short time, the institute solved the issues of creating an industrial base for the production of rare metals, such as vanadium, niobium and tantalum, beryllium compounds, etc.
For almost 30 years, the permanent scientific supervisor of the most complex works on antimony, titanium, niobium, zirconium, india, Germany, high-purity elements, alloys, analysis methods was the Deputy Director for scientific work, Hero of Socialist Labor, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences N.P. Sazhin. Possessing a huge scientific erudition, N.P. Sazhin pursued a technical policy that allowed the institute to fulfill the tasks of the government in a short time to organize new productions of high-tech rare metal products.
It is impossible to overestimate the achievements of the Institute in the field of exploration of deposits, processing of raw materials and obtaining the first Soviet pure metallic uranium in 1944. The developed technologies of uranium production are not outdated even now.
Already in the years of the pre-war five-year plans, the institute created its own industrial base and ensured the elimination of the state's dependence on imports of many rare metal compounds.
Having become a scientific center of the rare metal and semiconductor industry, an integrated research, design and design organization, the institute received and clearly further realized a unique opportunity to carry out work - from the search and enrichment of raw materials, the development of technologies and special technological equipment to the creation of industrial production of rare metals and semiconductors. The Institute's team has designed, reconstructed and built more than 25 industrial enterprises — titanium, rare metal and semiconductor, more than 200 experimental sites and production facilities. The scope of scientific research of the Institute during this period is already about 50 elements of the Periodic System. According to the Institute's developments, the industry has produced and continues to produce more than 1,500 types of rare metal and semiconductor products.
Taking into account the importance of Giredmet's scientific developments, their compliance with the world level, the availability of highly qualified scientific personnel and a unique experimental base, the Government of the Russian Federation No. 880 of June 14, 1997 awarded the Institute the status of the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation (SSC RF).
In 2008 Giredmet was transformed into an open joint stock company (JSC Giredmet) as part of the Rosatom State Corporation.
Today, Giredmet JSC performs the functions of a leading and coordinating research and design organization of a materials science profile, comprehensively solving the problems of innovative development of the most important interdisciplinary and intersectoral direction of science and technology - the creation of new competitive materials based on rare, precious metals, titanium, elementary semiconductors and semiconductor compounds, substances of high and ultrahigh purity, superhard, nanostructured materials and materials with special properties.
We see our mission in the system integration of fundamental research, applied developments and advanced design solutions to ensure the innovative development of the basic sectors of the Russian economy, the promotion of high-tech products to the markets of high-tech goods and services based on the effective use of intellectual potential and the unique scientific and production infrastructure of the Institute.