KUSTANAY,

also spelled Kustanai, or Kustanaj, oblast (province), northern Kazakhstan, having an area of 44,200 square miles (114,500 square km). It contains a portion of the Turgay Lowland, which lies between the foothills of the Urals and the Kazakh Uplands and connects the West Siberian Plain in the north with the Turgay Tableland in the south. A wide, fertile black-earth belt in the northern part of the oblast changes into dry steppe toward the south. The climate is continental and dry. The main river is the Tobol, flowing north. There are a number of lakes, the largest of which is Kushmurun. Mining, developed particularly since the 1950s, and agriculture dominate the oblast's economy. Iron ore is mined in large quantities at Rudny and Lisakovsk, and there are also significant iron-ore deposits at Kachar, asbestos at Dzhetygara, and low-grade bauxite at Krasno-oktyabrsky. The oblast is a major producer of grain, particularly wheat, the sown area having quadrupled as a result of the Virgin and Idle Lands Campaign in the mid-1950s. Cattle and sheep are also raised. The oblast's chief cities are Kustanay (the capital), Dzhetygara, Rudny, and Lisakovsk. The population is composed of Russians, Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Germans, Belarusians, and Tatars. Pop. (1991 est.) 1,074,400.