During the period of active colonization of the Urals, which began in the 14th to early 15th centuries, there were rumors about subsurface deposits in Perm land and Yugra.  But when conditions were dangerous for the settlers, because of the indigenous population, industrial land development was practically not carried out. In 1491, Ivan III sent an expedition to the Northern Urals, to Pechora, with the task of searching for silver and copper ores. As a result, a small silver ore deposit was discovered on the Tsilma River, which was quickly developed. Ivan IV declared the prospecting and mining of ores a state monopoly and in 1567-1568 he sent an expedition to search for silver and copper ores on the Yayva River. The expedition ended in vain. In 1568, Ivan IV allocated extensive lands to Y. A. Stroganov in the Kama region with permission to use iron ores, but was banned from using silver, copper and tin ores, and he had to immediately report their discovery to Moscow.
The active resettlement of Russians to the Urals was facilitated by the agrarian crisis of the agricultural central part of Russia at the end of the 16th century. From 1579 to 1678 the Russian population of Great Perm increased from 2,197 to 11,811 households (by 463%). By 1724, the population of the Urals was already about 1 million people, while the total population of Russia was about 14 million people.
Until the beginning of the 17th century, all of the Ural and Russian metallurgy was locally handcrafted production in the form of small peasant blast furnaces and forges, in which all the processes of obtaining finished products were concentrated.