Purpose of the study. Identify the spatio-temporal transformations of the demographic development of mountain settlements in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania over the past decade. Research methods: during the research, traditional geographical methods were used - comparative geographical, statistical, descriptive and analytical, field field observations. Results and discussion. Mountain settlements of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania are located in the Vladikavkaz urban district, as well as in the Prigorodny, Alagirsky and Irafsky districts. They are mainly concentrated in low-mountain and mid-mountain zones. At the same time, the dominant part of the population lives in low mountains, which testifies to the predominance of the small-settlement structure of settlement in the middle and high mountains as compared to the low mountains. By the nature of the position in the relief, mountain settlements are divided into two types - located on slopes and high plateaus and in intermontane basins and valleys. The latter have undeniable advantages associated with more favorable natural conditions, the development of transport and social infrastructure, which contributes to the preservation of the population and curbing depopulation processes. In general, the mountainous areas of the Republic are experiencing a steady demographic decline, which is manifested in a decrease in the population and a decrease in its share in all mountain municipalities. At the same time, in a number of settlements, natural growth remains weakly positive. The increase in depopulation is mainly associated with the migration outflow of the population, which is most pronounced in the high-mountainous, with an unfavorable geographical position of the settlements. In the Prigorodny District, the migration loss is mainly due to the village of Tarskoye (which may be a kind of reminiscence of the well-known negative events). At the same time, in a number of administrations, tendencies of a decrease in the migration loss or even a slight migration growth have been revealed. Thus, an almost zero balance of migration is characteristic of the settlements of the Dargav administration, and in the settlements of the Karamadon, Koban, Fiagdon administrations, a migration increase was found. An unexpected increase (albeit very weak) is demonstrated by the settlements of the Galiat, Gular, Zadale, Makhskoy rural administrations. Conclusions: The study revealed significant intraregional, intraregional and intersettlement spatio-temporal imbalances in demographic development associated with natural and socio-economic circumstances. It has been established that sustainable development of the mountainous territories of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania is possible provided that human potential is preserved, since allows reproducing the original culture of the Ossetians and preserving the mountainous traditional architecture. The most favorable situation is developing in settlements that are involved in agglomeration processes and located in the suburban area close to Vladikavkaz (with the exception of the village of Tarskoye), as well as villages with an advantageous transport and geographical position and located on the main highways. It seems promising to involve the local population in tourist activities and the development of various types of tourism in mountain settlements.

The article presents the results of studies on the electrochemical leaching of metals from poly-metallic ores using sulfuric acid-chloride solutions under the action of a reversible infra-low-frequency direct current with varying density and the addition of a surfactant. Mathematical models of leaching indicators have been developed depending on the density, duration of the forward and reverse polarity of the current. It is revealed that the most optimal mode is the ore leaching under the action of a reversible direct current with varying density and duration of the reverse current. It is determined that the reverse current density is 6 times greater than the forward current density, and the duration of the reverse current pulse is 0.2 of the duration of the forward current. At the same time, Kazakhstan, like other countries with the transit economy, will have to overcome the risks and challenges that have emerged as a result of global digitalization. The article shows that to stimulate digitalization of geological exploration, significant investments are needed, which will require, alongside with government regulation, searching for new forms and mechanisms of public-private partnership.

The aim of the study was to analyze the models of sustainable development mountain regions of Southern Siberia by the example of Altai and Tyva Republics. Materials and research methods. The study was based on the methodology of system analysis and strategic planning. Strategic documents of socio-economic development of Altai and Tyva Republics were used. Discussion. Peculiar features of the Altai Republic development are characterized by a weak diversified economy, a low living standard of the population, a poorly developed social and engineering infrastructure, bad transport development and connection with other territories, including unstable energy supply. The analysis of its Development Strategy suggests that the ecological tourism development may be take a leading position here in the near future. The Republic of Tuva is distinguished by other strategic development guidelines. Since post-reform years, the development of the republic is associated with the construction of the Kyzyl-Kuragino railway and industrialization, i.e. the development of rich mineral deposits. Currently, the transport system of Tyva is represented by automobile, air and domestic seasonal water traffic, which needs development and reconstruction, there are also problems with the energy supply of the region. Conclusion. Mountainous relief, unique natural conditions of the Altai and Tyva republics are key conditions in the development of these regions. The Altai Republic has chosen an environmentally oriented model with the preservation of nature and the development of ecological tourism. The Republic of Tuva continues the traditional industrial path - the development of mineral deposits. From the point of view of the authors, the traditional industrial path of development is unacceptable for mountainous areas and may lead to the depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation and the loss of national and ethnic identity of the population.

The aim of this work to study, identify the repeatability and duration of heat waves of the study area. For it were suggested and decided the following tasks: Findings. The study of regularities of variability of the spatial-temporal distribution of characteristics of heat wave in conditions of regional and global changes of climate is current task of modern geographical science. Extremely high temperatures and heat waves of study area excessively conditioned by the influence of secondary thermal depressions from the Arabian Peninsula, a number of cases that last for 2-3 decades are significantly increased. Tropical thermal depression, forming of extreme hot summers and heat waves, have cycles of activation and weakening, periodicity of which is estimated at 20-22 years. Starting from July (sometimes from the second half of June) to the last ten days of August (sometimes to first half of September), weather conditions of Ararat valley are formed under influence of thermal depression. The invasion of southern and south-eastern tropical warm and dry air currents from the Arabian deserts is increasing. As a result in some years the air temperature in Ararat valley is increased to 40-43 °C, and relative humidity is low than 30%. Heat waves are dangerous weather phenomena, is threat for live and activity, are characterized with some negative consequences. They can be accompanied by droughts and dry winds, forest fires, desertification, disruption of the natural ecosystem, economic damage, decreased working capacity, psychological and sociological consequences, even deaths. Temporal tendencies in course of values of the characteristics of heat wave for last 2-3 decades have positive unambiguous character, more frequent heat waves and extremely warm summers. Heat waves of low and medium intensity have a particularly high frequency. The probability of strong waves is less. The study area is distinguished a characteristic regime and an almost uniform spatial distribution of summer extreme high temperatures. They range from 41,5 to 42,6 °C. The entire study area is vulnerable to heat waves. Heat waves can cause dangerous meteorological phenomena such as droughts or dry winds, which cause great damage to various sectors of the economy, especially agriculture. Therefore the results of the work can be used in the field of agriculture, mitigating and reducing the consequences of possible damage caused. They can also be used in agrometeorological forecasts. In the study area, summer conditions become warmer and drier, which should be taken into account when developing strategic programs for the future development of this area.

Our interest is to explore such a characteristic of the villagers who live in a part of the slope of Mountain Arjuno, located in the East Java Province of Indonesia, before their existing entrepreneurial orientation. Using question-naires -developed based on (Miller, 1983) definition about entrepreneurial orientation-, spread to the villagers there and their analysis, it was found that their entrepreneurial orientation E.O. following equation as - 0.003 + 0.334 innovativeness I + 0.334 proactiveness P + 0.333 risk-taking R.

The main objective of this research is to evaluate the changes in local conditions in the economic, sociocultural, and environmental perspectives in association with the development of the pilgrimage tourism sector from the perspective of the residents of mountain areas through which the St. James Primitive Way passes in Asturias. The specific objective is to evaluate the sociodemographic factors of such perceived changes using Logit regression analysis and seemingly unrelated regression analysis. The results obtained indicate the following: firstly, that, although the residents positively value the non-overcrowding of pilgrims on this primitive jacobean route, their perceptions detect some negative changes in the surroundings of Pola de Allande and Grandas de Salime related to noise pollution, the management, and treatment of waste and the state of the Jacobean route; secondly, residents perceive the conservation and condition of the St. Jacques’ route as poor and that there are no improvements in infrastructure and public transport services; Finally, thirdly, the impacts of the Primitive Way, today, although positive, are very modest and are mainly limited to two sectors: hospitality and accommodation, which are the activities where employment is being generated. Residents surveyed perceive positive changes in employment and income distribution and negative changes in the evolution of the prices of goods and services and the cost of living.

The restoration of the former potential of the deposits of the Sadonsky ore node depends on the success of extracting metals from poor ores and leaching waste with environmental improvement. The modernization of technology for the development of existing reserves of deposits is carried out on the basis of the results of the performed research. Report. The relevance of the work is explained by the need to restore the industrial potential of a large location lost during the crisis. The purpose of the work. Substantiation of the possibility of resuscitation of the lost potential of mining enterprises based on the use of substandard raw materials for the production of metals and commercial products. Research methods: systematization, generalization and analysis of theoretical and experimental studies performed at the fields under consideration. Results. The concept of environmental protection and resource-saving technology for the development of deposits of the Sadonsky ore belt has been formed. The results of the study of ways to optimize the technology of development of rock ore deposits are given. The fundamentals of a combined technology for the development of substandard reserves with an increase in the completeness of the use of mineral resources on a scientific basis are formulated. Recommendations are given for the design of technologies for underground mining of ore deposits of the type under consideration, optimized according to the criteria determined by modeling. An assessment of the resource potential of mining and metallurgical waste and recommendations for the development of the best available technologies for activating the components of concrete mixtures for the manufacture of goods is given. The results of the study of the processes of extraction of metals from ores and man-made raw materials, including using mechanochemical technology of extraction of metals in a disintegrator and combined technologies of processing of non-conditioned ores and waste of their enrichment are presented.

Introduction. Agricultural land use organized in the dry steppe Kulunda of Altai Krai, with an area of more than 1,8 million hectares, is unsustainable. This is due to many factors, but the main ones are agro-climatic conditions (temperature and precipitation), as well as anthropogenic elements of landscapes, as a result of the joint manifestation of which erosion processes develop. The purpose of the study: to conduct a multicomponent analysis of agricultural lands in the dry steppe Kulunda Altai Krai to optimize their agro- and geo-ecological state, as well as increase the sustainability of agricultural landscapes. Research methods: a systematic approach and a comparative geographical method used in the processing of materials characterizing the qualitative and quantitative indicators of agricultural landscapes and the analysis of zonal physical and geographical characteristics of the territory. Relationships and mutual influences within anthropogenic landscapes have been studied using the ecological-landscape approach. Research results. Over a thirty-year period of monitoring the heat and moisture supply of the territory, it was found that only 1-2 years per decade are optimal for growing crops (spring wheat), and agricultural land prevails in the structure of the land fund (seven municipal districts), and their share varies from 47 % to 96 % in Uglovsky and Tabunsky districts, respectively. Examining the structure of sown areas and crop rotations, it was found that arable land is the most common agricultural land, it accounts for more than 70 %, pastures – almost 20 %, hayfields and fallow lands – 8,5 %, perennial plantations – only 0,04%. It was determined that cultivated crop rotations lead to degradation of the soil cover, which occurs due to active dehumification – the loss of humus reserves in the process of deflation and active mineralization on fallows and fields with tilled crops. It was calculated that the rate of humus loss on an area of one hectare is 0,24 tons per year. Conclusion. The calculations made show that the coefficient of environmental stability is much lower than the threshold, and a relatively high indicator of environmental stability in the Mikhailovsky and Uglovsky districts was achieved due to the tape forest and salt lakes located on their territory, which do not have a positive impact on the sustainability of agricultural areas. Improving the sustainability of agricultural land use is possible with the organization of a grass field system by changing the structure of sown areas and crop rotations.

Introduction. Currently, many metallurgical companies in Russia are experiencing difficulties with the supply of raw materials. One of the solutions to this problem is the involvement in the reuse of secondary resources that are formed in metallurgical processing. So there are more than 15 million tons of them on the territory of Zlatoust steel Mill. The development of metallurgical slag processing technology will partially solve the problem of the company’s own raw material base. Methodology. To develop an effective technology for complex processing of metallurgical slags of Zlatoust steel Mill four samples were taken from various sections of slag dumps. Research results and discussion. The work studied the chemical and mineralogical composition of samples, conducted studies on the enrichment of slags. To study the enrichment of metallurgical slags by the magnetic enrichment method, studies have been carried out, including separation of material with a size of -100 +40 mm on a drum separator and material with a size of -40+0 mm on a separator in a suspended state. The results show that products made of a material with a size of -100+40 mm meet the requirements for direct use in blast furnace production. and products obtained from a size class of -40+0 mm meet the requirements of agglomeration production. The chemical analysis of the obtained products after magnetic separation in a suspended state indicates significant nickel content in the magnetic separation tails of the sample with a size of -40+0 mm. The study of the microstructure of the sample showed that the size of nickel inclusions is on average 1 mm. In this work studies have been carried out on the grinding of tails to a size of less than 1 mm and enrichment on gravity apparatuses. Studies comparing the results of metallurgical slag enrichment on a concentration table and a centrifugal concentrator have shown significantly higher efficiency of slag separation on a centrifugal concentrator. Conclusions. The obtained results on the enrichment of metallurgical slags ofZlatoust steel Mill allows us to recommend a comprehensive processing technology. As a result of enrichment the following products are obtained: magnetic product 1 with a mass fraction of iron 88.4% when extracting 35.2%. magnetic product 2 with a mass fraction of iron 42.7% when extracting 12.4% and nickel-containing concentrate with a mass fraction of nickel 4.85% when extracting 67.9%.

The article deals with the state of aerogasdynamic processes in coal mines. With centralized automatic control and management of mine ventilation using a control system, in the circuit of which application software is used, the choice of a rational period for collecting information received from controlled objects is of great importance.The object of automatic control in a coal mine are the parameters characterizing the state of the mine atmosphere - methane concentration, air flow, temperature and parameters of the ventilation network (depression and aerodynamic resistance). All controlled parameters characterize the state of the atmosphere. Research goal. The purpose of the research is to develop a method for analyzing and evaluating the optimal state of aerogasdynamic processes in coal mines. Research objectives. Conduct an analysis of the optimal state of aero- gasdynamic processes and adapt the method at coal industry enterprises. Research results. Studies have been carried out on the duration of the observation interval for the modes of movement of air and gas through the goaf and bottom-hole space of the production area, to ensure the specified accuracy in determining the values for the implementation of non-stationary gas-dynamic processes. It is determined that the resulting systems of equations describing the unsteady modes of air and gas movement through the mined-out and bottom-hole space of the mining area from the standpoint of hydrodynamics with subsequent simplification of these equations based on the assumptions made. Using the results of the experiments, for the process of methane concentration, a realization length of 1 day was chosen, since during this time at least one complete production cycle has time to complete in the longwall. The duration of this cycle significantly exceeds the value of the maximum measurement interval ∆tβ = 30 min., for which it is still advisable in practice to determine the modes of movement of air and gas through the mined-out and bottom-hole space of the production area. The research results are recommended for use in the design of efficient air supply schemes in the mining areas of coal mines and the correct placement of regulators to take into account the concentration of methane in the flow of consumed air.