LENA GOLD MINING PARTNERSHIP - A CLIENT OF THE STATE BANK
The article discusses the complex financial relationship between the Lena gold mining partnership and the State Bank. It is based on the documents and materials of the Russian State Historical Archive. The Russian historiography has some works on the history of industrial gold mining in Russia. This was a topic that drew a lot of attention during the Imperial Russia period, and it did not fade in the later times. However, the financial aspects of the gold companies’ activities, especially their relations with credit institutions, have never been in focus of research interest. For this reason, the author does not have an opportunity to rely on the studies of his predecessors. Meanwhile, it is important to find out how gold mining in Russia was financed, what were the sources of providing such companies with working capital. This article covers these issues by describing the ways the State Bank credited the Lena gold mining partnership and difficulties that arose in this process. The partnership’s credit history in the main institution of the country lasted almost two decades. It is noteworthy that in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, when the company was experiencing hard times, the State Bank did not refuse to lend to the partnership. However, at the end of the first decade of the 20th century, when the partnership was successful and able to repay, the bank management decided to stop all financial relationships with this institution. According to the documents from the Saint Petersburg office of the State Bank, the reason was that the Lena partnership had broader opportunities for raising funds in other Russian and foreign credit institutions.