INFORMATION ON LENIN STATE METALLURGICAL PLANT AND NONFERROUS RHODPE MINES BULGARIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130456-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2011
• Sequence Number: 456
• Publication Date: September 25, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130456-0 J
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL
SECURITY INFORMATION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
COUNTRY Bulgaria
SUBJECT Economic - Metallurgical plant, mines
Biographic
HOW
PUBLISHED Semiweekly newsletter, weekly newspaper
DATE
PUBLISHED 7 Feb - 22 Apr 1953
LANGUAGE German, Bulgarian
REPORT
CD NO.
DATE OF
DATE DIST. D.5 Sep 1953
NO. OF PAGES 2
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
INFORMATION ON "LENIN" STATE METALLURGICAL PLANT
AND NONFERROUS RRODOPE MINES IN BULGARIA
SOVIETS BUILD "LENIN" STATE METALLURGICAL PLAI.1T -- Vienna, Interreport-Ost,
No 222, 7 Feb 53
The construction of the "Lenin" State Metallurgical Plant has been under-
taken by "Sovbolstroy," the Joint Soviet-Bulgarian construction enterprise.
This special company developed from '.wo former German construction enterprises.
The Bulgarian share of the assets of the enterprise consists only of the ma-
chinery which the Bulgarians had to buy in the Soviet Union. The company has
broad privileges an3 is exempt from any control by the Ministry of Construction.
A Soviet engineer named Shevr_henko is general manager, and all important po-
sitions are held by Soviet personnel. "Th' 'lenin' State Metallurgical Plant,"
is inscribed ir. gold Letters, in Russian, on the large, leather-bound books
lying on the office desks in the "Lenin" Plant. These books contain operating
plans drawn up by Soviet experts. 411 the larger machines carry Soviet identi-
fication marks. The plant buildings of the steel combine are merely Soviet
industrial installations in Bulgaria.
The latest reports explain why the plant w'1l use huge amounts of electric
power. Because of the raw material situation and the shortage of suitable coal,
law-shaft furnaces of Swedish design for producing pig iron will be built. No
blast furnaces will be built, but an electrical process will be used. The
"Lenin" Plant is designed for the production of steel bars. Since it will take
at least 2 or 3 years for pig iron production to get under way, the open-hearth
open-
furnatas for the present will be charged mainly tith scrap. Thehffirst
rstoop on
hearth furnace is to be ready for production on 30 March
is 1953, to effect a
30 June 1953, and the rolling mill by 15 July 1953. planned
90 percent recovery of scrap until domestic pig iron production begins. The
additional supply of the indispensable pig iron will be made available with
the help of the Soviet Union. The annual production of steel bars will amount
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL
Ngyy Nsae r DISTRIBUT!ON_
AIR FBI -
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130456-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130456-0
The railroad carrying coal fuel from the f5imitrovo7 coal mines to all parts
of the country will deliver, on the return trip, raw met.erials, scrap iron, and
pig iron for the open-hearth furnaces of the "Lenin" Plant. The plant has been
receiving such shipments for some time, but regc'_ar deliveries will take place
only after steel production has begun. If the first electric furnace is to
start producing pig iron from domestic Bulgarian ore within 2 or 3 years, iron
ore deliveries must be assured. Meanwhile, there is no interruption in the ore
shipments to the Satellites and to the USSR. As a result, the Bulgarian iron
ore supply is limited. Until now, the iron ore mined in the vicinity of Samokov
and Sofia has gone mainly to Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The "Lenin" Plant will
rely mainly on the exploitation of the Samokov mines and the utilization of slag
heaps found there by the sponge iron extraction process, which is not very pro-
ductive. In Samokov, old smelting furnaces, surviving from the Turkish period,
have again been put into operation. High-quality ore deposits will be available near
Yambol, although this supply is also limited and is used to cover foreign trade
commitments.
The assembly work on the auxiliary buildings of the "Lenin" Plant is to
be finished by 30 July 1953. By that time, the compressor station, the repair
shops, and the ore storage area will be finished. The total area of the plant
is 50 hectares. It is divided into two groups of installations, the production
installations and the repair and auxiliary Installations. Construction com-
pleted at the end of 1952 consisted almost exclusively of the latter.
BULGARIAN STEEL TO GO TO USSR, CZECHOSLOVA1CiA -- Vienna, Interreport-Ost,
No 242, 22 Apr 53
According to reliable sources, the "Lenin" State Met^llurgical Plant in
Dimitrovo will begin t'-= production of steel this year. In this connection,
it is said that the "Vulko Chervenkov" TETs (Steam-Heat and Electric Power
Station) in Dimitrovgrad; the "Republik::" TETs is near Dimitrovo7 is to be
expanded considerably, and that the critical situation in the "Rositsa" Sow
"Aleksandur Stamboliyski"7 VETs (Hydroelectric Power Station) must be
improved. The steel produced by the "Lenin" Plant will be shipped mainly to
the USSR and to Czechoslovakia; only a small part is earmarked for Bulgaria.
The "'Julkan" Cement Plant will be expanded. Thus far the plant has been
unable tc fulfill its plan for the export of cement to the USSR.
The 1953 industrial production in Bulgaria is to be increased 16 percent
[as compared with 1952J.
ADMINISTRATION OF ENTERPRISES IN MAD:.N OKOLIYA -- Ehaskovo, Rodopska Borba,
14 Mar 53
The "Gyudyurska" Vine fin Madan Okoliya, :which is in the Rhodope lead and
zinc mine region7 is headed by Gancho Nikolov. Tcvetan Gongov is the chairman
of the mine trade union. This mine belongs to GORUBSO (Bulgarian-Soviet
Forestry and Mining Organization) and is administered by the Second Mining
Administration (rudoupravlenie).
Sotir Stefanov is the chairman of the trade union committee in Fabrika,
administered by the Second Mining Administration, Madan Okoliya.
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CONFIDENTLIL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08 : CIA-RDP80-00809A000700130456-0