Gold and other minerals were discovered in the 20th century, and in the 1970s the world's smallest and most northerly nuclear power station was built in Bilibino.

[14] Cossacks first became aware of an indigenous people living on the territory of present-day Bilibinsky District after encountering trouble with a group of Chukchi from the area when on the Alazeya River near the modern border with the Sakha Republic in the 1640s.

[14] Following the establishment of Anadyrsk by Semyon Dezhnyov, the Bolshoy Anyuy River became the main thoroughfare linking the new ostrog (fortress) with the fort at Nizhnekolymsk, with the region being the first place in Chukotka where native people met with Russians.

This became an annual fair with the Russians trading tobacco and metal items with the indigenous peoples for skins and furs.

[2] Ostrovnoye became the first administrative center of the Vostochnoy Tundry District, with authority over six separate selsoviets (Bolshe-Enyuysky, Malo-Enyuysky, Oloysky, Oloychansky, Ostrovnovsky, and Pogyndinsky.

Although substantial deposits of gold had been found, the outbreak of World War II prevented any follow-up until the mid-1950s.

In March 1955, the first gold deposits were found and construction of a village in the vicinity named Karalvaam began.

In September 1968, a decision was made in Magadan (for at that time Chukotka was part of a large Magadan Oblast) to grant Bilibino town status and in August 1961, the administrative center of the district was moved once more; this time to Bilibino, where it remains to this day.

[2] Despite the mineral riches present in Bilibinsky District, sufficient quantities are not being generated to make for meaningful export along the Northern Sea Route.

These people either migrated to the Far East, or are the descendants of those who did, enticed by the higher pay, large pensions, and more generous allowances permitted to those prepared to endure the cold and the isolation, as well as those who were exiled here as a result of Stalin's purges or after having been released from the Gulag.

The existence of the nuclear power plant in the district is a major reason for the presence of ethnic Russians, and they make up almost the entirety of the approximate 6,000 people who live in Bilibino, with only around 280 residents being of indigenous origin in 2006,[14] down from 337 in 2004.

Instead it must rely on other ports, with Pevek being the closest sizable harbor, as a delivery point for all imports that arrive by sea.