ECONOMIC - COAL MINING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700210179-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 10, 2002
• Sequence Number: 179
• Publication Date: March 14, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2002/08/06 : CIA-RDP80-00809A000700210179-6
CLASSIFICATION RESTRTCTD
SECURITY. TNFORNIATION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
COUNTRY German Federal Republic
SUBJECT Economic - Coal mining
HOW
PUBLISHED Monthly periodical
WHERE
PUBLISHED Frankfurt/Main
DATE
PUBLISHED 20 Dec 1952
LANGUAGE German
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1948 - 1952
DATE DIST. I~ Mar 1953
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
The bituminous coal mines of the Federal Republic produced 123 million
tons in 1952. This is about 6 million tons above the 1936 production. How-
ever, the gap between domestic production and requirements is hest shown
by the fact that nearly 7.5 million tons of coal had to be imported from
the US during 1952. This is the more notable since the Federal Republic
by nature is not a coal-importing country and the German coal-mining indus-
try has always been a heavy exporter, while imports used to be quite neg-
ligible. If the extremely high industrial production level is to be main-
tained in 1953, the Federal Republic will have to continue importing coal
from the US.
Output per man per shift underground in bituminous coal mines is at
present about 1.48 tons. That is far below the maximum of 2.1 tons reached
in 1936. However, if all circumstances are considered, the question of
whether the high prewar production l-ve1 in underground mining operations
can ever be reached again can hardly be answered in the affirmative. The
fact that the prevailing conditicr.s are enttroaly different from those of
1936 i_ frequently overlooked. Outg.tt per man per shift had already de-
creased to 1.9 tons in 1935. The drop in output, which thus had already
started before World War I'1, has several ceus,s. These causes have ir_flu-
enced each other, but the coil-mining iadustr; itself is in co position to
sliminnte them.
It must first be borne in mind that the lnbnr f nrre in L936 was capa-
ble of the highest output. The r_ge-group Structure of mining labor at that
time was more favorable then ever before and h.is never been as frivor.able,
since. The total coal production of 116,950,000 tons in 1936 was achieved.
by an underground labor force of 177,385 men. The especially high produc-
tion of 1938, which rrnrh.d 13",' ,uillivrn r,on3, required 228,&)O work-
ers undergroun_ Thus, some of t.hc production i.r^rr.:,,e of the prewar years
was accomplished by the employment of additional miners. Burt in 1951, the
bituminous coal-mining industry requir-d 2P3,?7O underground workers, and
the production increase in 1952' could b,? accomplis'red only by still another
CLASSIFICATION Ri?S PFTr P=T'
Fat
25X1A
ILLEGIB
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increase in the labor force. Thus, at the end of November 1952, the bitumi-
nous coal mines of the Federal Republic employed 326,000 underground miners.
The figures of labor force versus production show the discrepancy between
the prewar and the postwar situation very clearly. They point up the man-
power and the age-group problem. it is certain that the mining industry
does not yet have the experienced labor force of the prewar years. The high
labor turnover is proof of this. There are, however, still other factors.
In the period 1936 - 1938, output had reached its highest level. Ration-
alization of operation by consolidation of installations had been effective.
Opening and forewinning underground was normal. Available capacity was not
being utilized to the utmost. Thus, it was very easy to expand production
at will. The seams were thicker than they are today and the mines were less
deep. Precisely these two factors are often not consid?.red today. At pre-
sent, the average seam thickness in the West German mines is only 90 centi-
meters, which means that operations are more difficult. The same obtains
for the depth of the mines. It is increasing by 6 to 8 meters per year.
The average depth of the pats in the bituminous coal mines of the Ruhr has
reached ?50 meters. Of the 155 producing collieries, 10 are already going
below 1,000 meters, and 64 are producing at depths between 700 and 500 meters.
The temperature in a mine increases roughly by one degree centigrade per 27-33
meters of depth. For +;orking sites with temperatures above 28 degrees centigrade,
the mining authorities prescribe shorter working hours.
Another problem is that of the uncommonly high labor turnover. During
the first three quarters of 1952 no lens than 46,600 miners quit their jobs.
During the same period, a total of 49,500 new miners was engaged. In the
period 1949 - 1951, the bituminous coal mines had a total of 557,000 new
employees, while. during the some period 387,000 workers Jeft again. Experi-
ence has shown that half of the new employees leave during their first year
In the mines.
The new miner is paid full wages from the first day of his employment,
while hi: work does not become productive until about 3 months later. Fig-
uring on the basis of a miner's average monthly wages of a0O DM Deutsche
marks /est7), we find that the m Lnee must spend about 1,200 DM to get one
productive worker. But if this worker leaves again after his 3-months
training period, this money is wasted and so Is the work of the experienced
miners who had to train him and who were therefore not fully available for
production. The expenses incurred by th, mine, as a result of this high
turnover can be computed easily. They nm riot, t-) millions every month. In
addition, a large number of miners chsu:ge employment from one colliery to
another. This is not included in the above i'Igt'et- of labor turnover, but
Is also a factor contributing to lower production.
It is known that there is a close connection between the unusually
high number of miners who lave their and the housing shortage.
So far, efforts to solve; this problem have b-en extremely successful. In
the period from the currency reform in 1`49 to mid-1952, the bituminous
coal Industry i vested more than 570 million IM,, in wor'kers' homes. At the
start of World WPr II, t:h~re were 329.927 mictrs' dwelling units in the
territory of the present Federal Pepublic. Of th-se, ?51,517 were damaged
or destroyed dosing the war, l.eavin;; only 71,310 -.tr,r1ra.natea miners' dwel-
lings at the end of the war. demean mid-191:'- and 31 Dec 1951, 217,791
were restored, arxi another 44 ,036 were m;,3e aavell.ni;le by new 'cnstruction,
subdividing, and rebuilding of attics. This-, on 1952, the Federal
Republic had 340,139 miners' dw-!lint, or more tiiun at the be-
ginning of the war. An additional 40,01;0 unit: were to be completed or
had funds provided for their conntr,1ttlo.. ;'?? lrinc'_ng Lhr total t-
380,009 units. There is still a del jolt, of since the number
of miners 'both surface and underground work..r';) in territory of the
Federal Republic has .increased from t+00,nXt0 in 1 +a9 ~ 0 ")i),000 in 1952.
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More than 25 percent of West German bituminous coal is extracted either
fully or partially by machine (approximately 106,000 tons per workday) . The
coal is either broken from the face by machine and. hauled out automatically,
or broken manually with hammers and hauled out automatically. The "propless"
mining method was developed during the war, but did not become practical on
a large scale until after the war. Only 5 years ago, the successes achieved
with this method would have been considered impossible. While the produc-
tion of bituminous coal from fully and partially mechanized mines was 15,000
tons per workday in July 1948, this figure was raised to 33,000 tons in
July 1949. At present, 267 mining installations are equipped with modern
mining machinery. Scraping machines are producing 20,000 tons per day, and
cutting machines about 25,000 tons per day, while 60,000 tons per day are
produced by semimechanized installations. Thus, about 40 percent of the
production from seams at flat incline is obtained by full or p-rtial mechani-
zation at the coal faces.
The progress achieved through mechanization at the face over a short
period is considerable. At the middle of 19h8, a'rerage daily production
of fully and partially mechanized installations was about 300 tons, while
the modern mines today show an average production of 400 tons.
Output per workday in fully and partially mechanized mines is much
higher than in mines employing the old methods. To flat seams, forwin`ning
amounts to 3.3 tons per man per day, while forewltut ng output in modernized
cual faces is 4.2 tons per man per day. Production at modernized coal faces
is 8.8 tons, while similar faces being worked by older methods produce on
the average 6.8 tons. Thus, modernized coal faces produce about 30 percent
more.
Production in all mines with flat seams told and modernized faces to-
gether) is now about 8 tons per man per day. In January 1941, the average
was 7.7 tons. Today's figure is thus about 4 percent higher. Furthermore,
it must be borne in mind that the Ruhr co],ieries in 19L1 war, manned by
experienced miners, so that many handicaps Which are serious matters today
were quite unknown, then.
The share of mechanization in the production increase since 1948 is
a good measure of the effer.t of mechanization,. In determining this share,
the amount produced by intensified mer.Ysnizat:on (aoout 90,000 tons per
workday) cannot be considered, since the f