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The article features an analysis of projects of congresses of gold miners in Transbaikal and correspondence concerning the organization of these congresses in 1898 – 1919. It is the first time a number of documents of the State Archive of Irkutsk region and the State Archive of the Transbaikal region have been examined. The article describes the history of the origin and development of the Congress of prospectors, as an independent institution. It illustrates the evolution of the role of the Congress as a body representing the collective interests of gold industry entrepreneurs. The article reveals contradictions between the gold miners they faced in addressing the issues. The research identifies the key interests and problems of gold miners at the turn of XIX – XX centuries On the basis of documents on the organization of congresses it examines the situation of workers, development of medical Affairs, the condition of routs of communication in the mines. The conclusion is made about the value of the documents of the congresses for the study of issues of social, technical and financial challenges of gold mining. The archival data reveal the effect of Russia's participation in the RussoJapanese and First World wars on its gold production. The obtained results allow a more detailed study of the gold mining past of this region.