No. 3 Ore Vein and Exhibition Hall in Fuyun County

No. 3 Ore Vein and Exhibition Hall in Fuyun County

The No. 3 Ore Vein scenic area is located on the southern bank of the Irtysh River in Habahe Town, Fuyun County, Altay Prefecture, encompassing the No. 3 Ore Vein and its surrounding areas, covering an area of 1.78 square kilometers. It was China’s first industrial base for defense cutting-edge raw materials, primarily producing lithium, beryllium, tantalum, and niobium. Located in Habahe Town, it serves as a necessary passage to the Sacred Bell Mountain scenic area and is an important tourism hub and reception service base within the Habahe scenic region. With convenient transportation, it lies south of National Highway 216 and is 70 kilometers from Fuyun Habahe Airport.

Habahe Town is a uniquely characteristic industrial town developed around rare metals. In the early 1930s, it was a nomadic area known to Kazakh herders as “Koktokay,” meaning “green woods,” due to the picturesque scenery of the Irtysh River flanked by lush pines and birches. Habahe gained fame for its rich deposits of rare and heavy metals, containing 86 types of minerals including tantalum, niobium, potassium, and silicon. Recognized by experts both at home and abroad as a “natural mineral exhibition hall,” it is regarded as a sacred site akin to “Jerusalem” or “Mecca” among geologists worldwide.

The world-renowned No. 3 Rare Metal Pit in Habahe made significant contributions to repaying China’s debts to the former Soviet Union, as well as to the successful development of China’s atomic and hydrogen bombs and the launch of its first artificial satellite. The spirit of hard work, dedication, perseverance, and national pride upheld by the earlier generations of Habahe residents, along with the heroic legacy of the ore pit, have rightfully made it a model patriotic education base and a classic destination for red tourism.