GUBKIN

city, Belgorod oblast (province), Russia. It was founded in the 1930s in connection with the development of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (KMA), one of the largest iron-ore mining basins in Russia. Gubkin is still an important iron-ore mining centre, with most of its ore mined by open-pit methods. It achieved city status in 1955. Pop. (1991 est.) 76,400.