SEARCH FOR LITHIUM MINING IN THE VORON'YE DISTRICT, KOLA PENINSULA AND NEAR LAKE POROS, KARELIA, USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78T05439A000300210047-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 8, 2000
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: February 18, 1964
• Content Type: MF

ILLEGIB
Approved For Release 2001/03/03 : CIA-RDP78TO5439A000300210047-8
Approved For Release 2001/03/03 : CIA-RDP78TO5439A000300210047-8
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PID/ABCB 29/64
DECLASSIFICATION REVIEW 18 February 1964
BY NIMA / DoD Copy #
MEMORANDUM FOR: Chief, Atomic/Biological/Chemical Division, OSI
25X1 A ATTENTION:
THRU: Chief, Requirements Branch, Reconnaissance
Group, CGS
FROM: Chief, CIA/PID(NPIC)
25X1 D
SUBJECT: Search for Lithium Mining in the Voron'ye District,
Kola Peninsula and Near Lake Poros, Karelia, USSR
REFERENCES: Requirement No. C-S14-81,006
CIA Project No. C 189-64
logical
and
drilling assistance by the large mining districts of
Lovozero
and
Kirovsk. The presence of ground scars near the inter-
mediate
and
forward unnamed small hutments may indicate that some
supplies
are
parachuted by planes from the not very distant airfields
1. A search was conducted of very dark or cloudy photography of
a wild mountainous region within a radius of 25 nautical miles (nm)
centering on the hamlet of Voron'ye, 68-27N 35-21E, in the heart of
the Kola Peninsula, for indications of mining or prospecting. Voron'ye
is located 67 rim southeast of Murmansk, 55 nm ENE of Olen'ya, and
27 nm NNE of the mining town of Lovozero. Personnel and supplies for
the Voron'ye region more frequently seem sent down the Voron'ye River
by boat possibly from a landing 2 nm SE of Lovozero on Lake Lovozero
at 67-59N 35-04E or from another road-served landing at Nivka, at
68-06N 35-08E. The harsh climate dictates the use of numerous refuge
cabins and multiple choice in transportation routes on river and land.
The trails could scarcely be seen on Mission but
on Mission they are more legible because an
occasional gravel bank has been excavated to provide in the meantime
a small amount of road metal for what would seem to be a little heavier
traffic. This is a pioneer district which seems to be very slowly
progressing from the early geological or prospecting stage through a
trenching period into the beginning of a proving or drilling campaign.
Foodstuffs are provided to some extent by the Lovozero area and geo-
at Kirovsk or Olen'ya.
25X1 D
2. Nine nautical miles east of Voron'ye a zone of trenching is
to be seen striking or trending discontinuously in a northwest-southeast
direction, over a distance of 13 nm. The zone is about three-quarters
of a mile in width. The zone has about 90 trenches and numerous
scratchings on a series of seven hills, culminating in Gora Polmos in
the southeast where 28 trenches have been dug. All except seven of
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25X1 D
the trenches trend or strike in a northeast-southwest direction
at right angles to the zone or prospecting and as such probably
represent mineralogically a late mineralization or filling of
fractures or dislocations produced in a zone of structural weak-
ness in the large crystalline intrusive rock mass. The northward
flowing Voron'ye River probable owes its course to a through-going
north-south break or fault which has cut off the zone of prospect-
ing west of the river. No trenches are to be seen west of the
Voron'ye River. There are four short, old east-west trail-served
trenches north of Voron'ye on the west bank of the Voron'ye River,
possibly for mineral prospecting. They do not seem related to the
extensive prospected zone to the northeast. There are evidences
of random small excavating or scarring of the massive crystalline
rocks of the hill slopes of a series of hills south of Voron'ye
along the east side of the Voron'ye River, indicating geological
work but unsuccessful prospecting along the Voron'ye River north-
south zone of structural weakness. The seven trenches striking
northwest-southeast at 67-31N 35-35E show that torsional conditions
accompanied the fracturing at its western end near the long north-
south Voron'ye River zone of structural weakness.
3. No peat bogs or placer deposits were noted as places of -
mineral exploitation. At 67-28N 35-30E, a series of NE-SW trenches,
representing the southern extension of trenches on the hill to the
north, have been dug to test the mineral content of the sediments
of a small un-named stream. The widely spaced trenches in the
alluvial (stream) deposits from the weathered veins indicates some
heavy minerals such as gold, or those containing tin or tungsten
are still being sought.
4. No positive identification of the mining of lithium-bearing
minerals in the Voron'ye region from overhead photography is possible
at this time.
5. Two of the four main prospected areas have small housing
areas of camps of cabins or low structures served by trails. The
camps may well have been prisons in this a wild and remote region,
as there is no need for perimeter fences. No auxiliary works as
power plants, water works, or administration buildings are to be seen.
6. Voron'ye is a small riverside hamlet with two landings, and
about 1+0 small structures on having grown from about
20 structures on there were 5 small
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dark pile like objects near the north landing which may represent
piles of supplies, dug outs, or ore or coal, none being visible on
25X1D Mission No spillage of ore or rock can be
detecte at the Voron'ye landings or the river landings near Nivka
and Lovozero to the south. The samples must have been carefully
handled and probable amounted to no more than a few hundred tons.
The Voron'ye River was searched north of the hamlet and found to
contain a number of rapids, as at 68-32N 35-19E and 68-38N 35-23E,
around which short portages can be detected. Because of the rapids
it is believed that the river supply and ore sample traffic would be
more likely to ply from the south where it has easier access to
technical and food supplies from the Kirov and Lovozero mining camps.
7. Three nm north of Voron'ye, at 68-30N 35-25E, on the east
bank of the Voron'ye River is a new unnamed base hutment area. The
hutment area or base camp contains 28 huts, some of which may have
25X1D been under construction in _ The hutment area is linked to the
south to Voron'ye by a poor trail gravelled for a short distance
north of the Voron'ye terminus.
8. The unnamed hutment area and Voron'ye are linked by a series
of alternate trails, to an intermediate hutment area with ten cabins
at 68-29N 35-36E. This intermediate base of hutment area is sited in
an open pasture area for draft animals, with a possible drop marker
symbol near the buildings. This unnamed intermediate hutment area
serves an area of 17 NE-SW trenches and 1+ NW-SE trending trenches and
numerous scraped strips all located on a hill south of the buildings.
A poorly gravelled road winds between the hills from the intermediate
hutment area past a small gravel pit at 68-27N 35-1-3E, two small cabins
at 68-22N 35-1+3E to an unnamed forward base or hutment area of also ten
cabins on Gora Polmos at 68-20N 35-53E. The unnamed forward base or
hutment area serves a nearby area having 28 NE-SW trending trenches,
of which 6 are long trenches well in excess of 100 feet in length.
The area just west of the cabins shows numerous very short trenches.
Since the
in~ on'ye area was first seen on Mission _ on 25X1D
25X1D missions have passed over the region. Unfortu-
nately most of the missions encountered heavy clouds, snow, or poor
contrast photographic conditions possibly due to humidity above a
moss-rock-lake-stream environment. Low cabins with weathered roofs
and muddy trails are difficult to identify. The following photography
has been selected to show the developments in the Voron'ye region
25X1D from the -missions:
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25X1 D
Mission Date Pass Frames quality Classification
The following maps and charts were used in the analysis of the
Voron'ye region:
AMS, Series N501, Map NR 35, 36-12, Murmansk Map Sheet, Aug 1959,
Scale, 1:250,000, Unclassified.
ACIC, Series 200, 0051-23AL, 2nd ed., Dec. 1959, 0051-24AL, 2nd ed.,,
Sept. 1959, Scale, 1:200,000. Secret.
10. The region within a 8 rsm radius of Lake Poros, Karelia,
62-30N 31+-lOE, was searched on the photography of - missions for
evidences of mining, with negative results. Lake Poros is located
12 rim north of Kondopoga or 358 rim south of the previously described
Voron'ye district or 23 run SSW of Medvezh'yegorsk. The Lake Poros
region is reminiscent of the pastoral or lumbered land of northern
Wisconsin. No railway branch line has been constructed to the vicinity
of Lake Poros. The trace of a power line running northwest of Kon-
dopoga can be seen some distance west of Lake Poros but there is no
evidence of a high-voltage branch line in the direction of Lake Poros.
11. It is suggested that a search be continued of the published
geological reports on the Voron'ye region, for a large-scale map which
may show the location of another Lake Poros where prospecting may leave
been successfully carried out.
25X1 D
12. Older photography was not consulted in the search of the
Lake Poros region, as the later photography indicated no mining activity.
Photography used in the search is as follows:
25X1 D
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The following charts and maps were used in the search of the
Lake Poros region:
i
AMS, Series N501, Map NP35, 36-8, the Kondopoga Map Sheet, 2nd ed.,
Sept 58, Scale 1:250,000. Unclassified.
ACIC, Series 200, 0102-6HL, 3rd ed., Jun 63, Scale, 1:200,000.
Secret.
13. The photo analyst on'this project was
He may be contacted on extension 3472 should you have further
questions regarding the requirement.
14. This memorandum with enclosure completes the referenced
requirement.
25X1A
25X1A
Enclosure:
CIA/PID/ABCB/P-36-64 (Location Map with Annotations)
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