Zestafoni
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Zestafoni ზესტაფონი |
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|---|---|
| Town | |
Town of Zestafoni
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|
 Zestafoni
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| Coordinates: 42°06′20″N 43°02′09″E / 42.10556°N 43.03583°E | |
| Country |
 Georgia
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| Mkhare | Imereti |
| District | Zestafoni District |
| Area | |
| • Total | 163 sq mi (423 km2) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 76,208 |
| Time zone | Georgian Standard Time (UTC+4) |
| Climate | Cfa |
Zestafoni or Zestaponi (correct pronunciation - Zestaponi [zɛstʼapʰɔni]) (Georgian: ზესტაფონი) is the administrative center of Zestafoni District in Western Georgia. Zestafoni is the center of an ancient, historical part of Georgia - Margveti, which is a part of Imereti province. Zestafoni is the Center of Margveti's Eparchy of The Georgian Orthodox Church. Zestafoni is situated in the furthest east of the Kolkheti Plateau. The city is built on the both banks of the river Kvirila.
It is an important industrial center, with a large ferro-alloy plant processing manganese ore from nearby Chiatura. Zestafoni is in the Kolkheti lowlands, a semi-tropical region with relatively cold winters averaging −4 °C (25 °F) in January and hot summers averaging 24 °C (75 °F) in August. The surrounding countryside is a wine-growing region.
The town of Zestafoni and the smaller neighboring town of Shorapani are industrial centers. The Zestafoni ferro-alloy plant processes raw manganese ore shipped by rail down the Kvirila valley from Chiatura, supplying 6% of world demand. The largest ferroalloy plant in the country, in 1998 it produced 35,000 tonnes of silicomanganese and 11,000 tonnes of medium-carbon manganese alloy. This was well below its previous peak production of 110,000 tonnes of manganese-based alloys. The British steel trading company Stemcor acquired the ferro-alloy plant in February 2006.
Two other plants in the Zestafoni / Shorapani area produce electrical products, aluminum and copper cable and wire. There were more plants in the Soviet era producing fireproof clay, marble and clothing. Zestafoni is also one of the winery-vinery centers of Georgia. Wine prepared from “Tsitsqa” and “Tsolikauri” species are widely known.
Zestafoni lies 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) west of the small but ancient fortress town of Shorapani, founded by Pharnavaz I of Iberia in the 3rd century BC. The town of Zestafoni is first mentioned in historical records in the 1560s. The name of the city is connected with the bank of river Kvirila (Georgian: phoni), upper bank (Georgian: Zeda phoni), that was used by the local population and foreign travelers from ancient times.
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Wikipedia