THE TREPCA LEAD MINE IN KOSMET AND THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF MONTENEGRO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700060523-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 5, 2011
• Sequence Number: 523
• Publication Date: May 28, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/06: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700060523-3
CLASS
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ATION
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COUNTRY Yugoslavia
SUBJECT Economic - Min
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspape
in
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ral resource:,
DATE OF
INFORMATIO
DATE DIST.
N _ ^
?L May
51
1
- 1952
952
WHERE
PUBLISHED Zagreb; Z':rich
NO
OF P
DATE
'PUBLISHED 16 Aug 1951 - 2
F
eb 1952
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AG
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LANGUAGE Serbo-Croatian;
G
erman
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
Ih; TREPCA LEAD MINE IN KOSMET
MERAL RESOURCES OF MONTENEGRO
TREPCA LEAD MINE, EUROPE'S LARGEST -- Zurich, Neue Zuercher Zeitung, 16 Aug 51
The Trepca Mine in the Koamet has the largest lead deposit in Europe. It
is distinguished not only for its extent but also for the high metallic content
of its ore, Today it is one of the most important sources of foreign exchange
credits for Yugoslavia.
A monograph by Dr F. Schumacher entitled Die La erstaette der Tre ca and
Shre Umgeb bung- The Trepca Deposit and its Environs was recently published in
Belgrade by the Izda-racko Preduzece Saveta za Energetiku i Edstraktivnu In-
dustriju Vlade FNRJ (Publishing Enterp:is~_ Tor the Council f-r Power and the
Extractive Industry}. The author, who gave up his teaching position at the
Freiberg Mining Academy in Saxony in 1947 to work as a geological expert at the
Trepca Mine until 1950, gives a detailed description of the geology, mineralogy,
structure, and geological history of the deposit. The monograph also covers
the mine's production. Although the postwar figures on production and re-
serves were not published in this work. they were made available to the Amer-
ican Journalist John J. Christie who published them in the June 1951 issue
of the Engineering and Mining Journal. The following information is based
on the monograph of Professor Schumacher, the information given by Christie,
and a personal visit made to the mine several weeks ago by permission of the
Yugoslav Government.
The highest level of production for the prewar years was reached in
1939 - 1940 with 699,000 tons, 634,000 tons were produced in 1949, and 665,000
tons in 1950.
Approximately 10 billion tons of ore h e been mined up to the present.
Reserves are estimated at an additional 10 ..illion tons as follows: 3.7 billion
tons of visible ore containing 7 percent lead, 4.2 percent zinc, and 124 grams
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STAT
of silver per ton; 2.2 billion tons of probable ore containing 6 percent lead,
3 percent zinc, and 100 grams of silver per ton; and a possible 4.3 billion
tons of o.e containing approximately 5 percent lead, 2 percent zinc, and 80
grams of elver per ton. The deposit will be exhausted in 15 years at the
present rate of exploitation. It appears unlikely that new large-scale re-
serves of similar proportions will be discovered in the vicinity of the Trepca
Mine,
Work is now going on at seven levels, the deepest being 200 meters below
the valley of the Thar River It is presumed that ore deposits extend up to
sea level. A cable railway connects the Stari Trg pit with the flotation
center and with the Zvecan Smelter. The flotation installation produces lead
concentrates with a concentration of approximately 80 percent, zinc concen-
trates with a concentration of approximately 50 percent, and pyrite concen-
trates with concentrations of approximately 45 to 50 percent. The pyrite
concentrates are sold chiefly on the foreign markets inasmuch as there are
no installations for the production of sulphur in Yugoslavia. Some of the
zinc concentrates are processed in the zinc refinery at Celle in Slovenia
(annual capacity of 12,000 tons), and the remainder are exported. Plans
have been under consideration for the building of a second electrolytic zinc
refinery with a capacity of 12,000 tons, but it is doubtful whether the
capital and Skilled workmen necessary for the building and operation of such
an installation can be found,
Lead is ec :ed from the lead concentrates by Newman-type furnaces. The
lead refinery ha; been greatly expanded since the war. Six additional furnaces
have been added to the original six British furnaces.. Each of these 12 furnaces
has a daily production capacity of 12 to 19 tons of lead, although furnaces of
this same tyre In another Yugoslav installation have produced as high as 28
tons per day. The refinery has been equipped with 12 giant boilers with a capa-
city of 300 tons each, seven of which have been built since the war. Silver
and bismuth in the raw lead are regained at the refinery. The lead is refined
down to S"-9 Percent pure lead
The Zvecan Smelter also processes the ores from the Zletovo Mines (prewar
production tome 150,000 tons of ore;, and Lam small Serbian mines which have
only recently begun exploitation operations, such as the Kopaonik, Novo Brdo,
Ajvalija, and Janjevo mines The Zvecan Smelter produces more than 50,000
tons of lead annually. It is hoped that this can be increased to 80,000 or
100,000 tons when all the aforementioned mines are in full operation.
At present, 5,o00-6,000 persons are employed in the Trepca Mine and in
the Zvecan Smelter. The majority of these are Albanians from surrounding
villages. The work performances of older workers are considered good, whereas
S those of younger workers are considered poor because they are poorly qualified
for the hard work because of their poor diet,
The operation. of the mine is not satisfactory. The mine is poorly venti-
lated and no adequate security measures are in force. Even the organization
in the smelter area leaves something to be desired. Some of the shortcomings
are minor ones which are bound to arise when a well-trained management is re-
placed by a new administration which still lacks an adequate supply of trained
personnel.
Basic repairs are forgotten because of the desire to keep production
going; when repairs are necessary, only provisional ones are made. There is
a tendency to limit mining to the richer ores, so that the poorer grades of
ore which would be worth exploiting only in connection with the richer ores,
are lost entirely.
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Geologists estimate that Montenegro has over 200 million tone of coal
reserves in the vicinity of Plevlje, and approximately 100 million tons of
white and red bauxite. A montmorillonite mine with an estimated reserve of
approximately 25 million tons has already been opened near Petrovac. There
are indications of manganese ore near Budva, and iron ore in Sozina. Petrol-
eum has been discovered in this area; a third oil-drilling tower is to be
erected soon.
Experts estimate that the newly opened "Suplja Stijena" Mine alone has
about 450,000 tons of lead and zinc ore, containing 9 percent lead and 16 per-
cent zinc. The Brskovo Mine, which dates back to medieval times, has been
reopened. Research has shown that the Brakovo Mine has considerable re-
serves of lead and zinc mixed with silver, gold, and copper.
Exploitation of these mines has not been possible because of their in-
accessibility and because of insufficient mechanization and a lack of ex-
perienced miners. To date, 45 kilometers of roads and 10 kilometers of
cableways have been constructed to the mine areas. The "Suplja Stijena"
Mine and some other mine sites have been electrified, and housing for miners
is under construction.
A laboratory for research on bauxite has been opened in Niksic. In 1952,
bauxite production is to be doubled or tripled because bauxite is in great de-
mand abroad. Montmorillonite is to be exported also.
Despotovac, 17 December -- Recent exploration in the Despotovac coal fields
has uncovered 3-meter-thick seams of new coal with a calorific value of 5,000
calories in contrast to the 3,500 to 4,000-calorific value of the coal pre-
viously mined here.
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