Geographical Position

The Ural Emerald Mines (UEM) is situated on the eastern slopes of the middle Urals, 56 km northeast from Ekaterinburg. This territory belongs to the Asbest area in the Sverdlovsk region.
The settlement Malyshevo is the official centre of the Emerald Mines. The town’s industry includes ore development, concentration factories, production, the mine and of course cultural and living establishments are located here.
The locality is a wooded plain with small depressions sloping away to the east. The hills are slightly meridian oriented. The highest peaks vary from 195 m to 250 m above sea level.
A river network is not developed in this region but the area abounds in great number of marshes. The river Pyshma flows beyond this territory and joins the main waterway of the region – the big Reft River with its tributaries. 
The climate here is severe - the average annual temperature is + 0.9°C with a differentiation of up to 80.6°C (-43.6°C to +37°C). The average annual precipitation is 399 mm. The vegetation corresponds to the general climatic conditions and characteristics of a cold temperate zone. The fundamental rocks are very slightly bared, surfacing only along the river banks. In other places they are covered with the soil stratum and loose (mostly alluvial) deposits varying in depth from 0.5m to 5.0m

The richest chrysolite-asbestos deposit in the world is in Bazhenovo – at present being mined by the  “Uralasbestos” combine. A lot of processed materials from Asbest, Mariinskii and Kvartalniyi quarries are predominantly used as building materials.