Kopeysk is a town located on the east slope of the Southern Ural Mountains, 20 km southeastward of Chelyabinsk.

It is a railway station. The area of Kopeysk is 356 sq. km and its population is 137.6 thousand dwellers (as of 2010).

Kopeysk stretches 55 km from the north to the south. It is a conglomerate of 22 settlements, which grew up around mines, open pits and other industrial enterprises.

History of Kopeysk

Kopeysk was formed from a group of industrial communities in the area of Chelyabinsk coal mines, where industrial extraction of coal was started in 1907 near the settlement Tugaikul. The name of the settlement was Kopi (meaning “mines”), Chelyabkopi (i.e. “Chelyabinsk mines”). In 1928 it became the industrial settlement Kopi, and in 1933 it turned into the town of Kopeisk.

In those days several large mines were built, some of them are still working.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 the factories of Kopeysk produced mines, aerial bombs, and details for tanks “Katyusha”.

In the 1970s-90s in connection with decrease in coal mining industry there was a considerable outflow of population from Kopeysk.