NOTES, COMMENT AND BUZZ FROM EUGENE KASPERSKY – OFFICIAL BLOG
June 6, 2026
(Prequel: Taking the (more) scenic route to Magadan)
We’d checked out the Natalka gold mine, dropped in on the settlement Ust-Omchug, and now we were pressing on along the super-scenic Highway 44N-4 toward Magadan…
June 4, 2026
A few days ao we wrapped up our whirlwind there-and-back business dash to Kyrgyzstan, and to the Kumtor gold-ore mine and ore-processing complex (aka – a gold-extraction factory: the first time I’d ever come across the term). Why the holdup in getting these write-ups published? Simply because, when you visit industrial sites, you usually need to get a “yep, all good!” from the hosts before posting any photos – even though I hardly shoot anything inappropriate in the first place (my internal censor sees to that).
So. Kumtor…
First, it’s one of the main pillars of the country’s mining sector. Second, it’s one of the highest-altitude mining operations in the world (the second-highest, to be precise – behind the Yanacocha gold deposit in Peru, (also gold-ore)). And third, it’s just plain beautiful! Here are the pyramids they show you as you drive into the open pit:
The main pit – the one they showed us – is impossibly gigantic in size: 3.5km long, by 3km wide, and almost a kilometer deep measured from the ~highest point. And up on the loftiest peaks there are snow and glaciers. What a beauty! ->
June 3, 2026
We’d checked out the Natalka gold-ore deposit and the mining-and-processing plant of the same name, but what else was worth a contemplative look at out there – further down Route 44N-4 (also known as the Tenkinskaya Highway, or just Palatka–Kulu–Neksikan)? Why – the settlement of Ust-Omchug! ->
Here it is on the map. Yes, it is very, very far away. But not too far from Magadan :)
June 1, 2026
Where should you head first in Manaus – the capital city of Amazonas? The fish market, of course!…
It absolutely floors you with its sheer size and variety. They’ve got everything that lives in the Amazon and its tributaries here – well, except for Red Book protected species (dolphins, for instance). And in waters this vast, the variety is about as wide as it gets:
I’m afraid I can’t remember what any of these various species of fish are called; I just recall being bowled over by the variety:
