KUMTOK, MUSAN AND AOJI MINES, NORTH KOREA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A000900410003-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 19, 2003
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 10, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
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This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794, of the Q.S. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
REPORT NO.
DATE DISTR.
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10 April 1953
NO. OF PAGES 4
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
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tmttok1Lead and Zinc Mines
1. The K 1nto'k Mines are in an area southwest of Chuch'o-dong (N 40-56, E 128-47)(DA-81329.
f
Korea
Kumt k, Musan and AojI Mines,
North Korea
4e shaft atpcdzit DA^812297 produces lead ore, and another at point. DA.-813291 pro-
duces wine. The mines operate 24 hours a day in three 8-hour shifts starting at
7 a.m. About 15. miners work on each shift in the lead mine, and about 20
miners work on each shift in-the zinc mine. Two men in each mine operate
trolleys which.hold about a ton of ore each. The ore from the lead mine is
emptied from the trolley about 2 meters from the mouth of the.shaft. From this
spot the ore rolls down an 8-meter incline to a stockpile where it is loaded onto
trucks for transportation to the Ydhgha Railroad Station (N 41-i6, E 128-42)
(DA-746683) for shipment to the USSR. In the same manner the ore from the zinc
mine is dumped from a point about 20 meters south of the mine shaft. The zinc
ore is. transported by truck to the,Yongyang (' 40-54, E 128-51) (DA-874271)
Railroad Station for shipment to the USSR. T he lead mine produces about 140
tons of ore and the2zinc mine about 72 tons daily. The lead ore has been assayed
at about 70 percent end the zinc ore at about 50 to 60 percent.
The compressor room for the IKumta?k Mines is in a wooden tin-roofed building 20
meters long, 8 meters wide, and 3.5 meters high, at point DA-812291. The walls
and roof of the building are painted with coal tar. Four steel air tanks, each
about 2 meters in diameter and 2.5 meters high are in the building. Air pipes
measuring about 8 centimeters in diameter lead from these tanks to the zinc mine,
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which is approximately 100 meters east of the building. The air is used to
supply oxygen to the miners and to run the air hammers used in the mining
operation. There are no air pipes leading to the lead mine shaft. The com-
pressors are run by an electric motor of undetermined size which is housed in
the same building with the tanks. For use in case of power failure there are
three emergency power sources. Each of these is capable of 25X1
supplying 36 volts of direct current from six -vo batteries which are housed
in trailers about the size of 22-ton trucks.3 This emergency power equipment
arrived at the Yongha Railroad Station from the USSR about 3 September 1952. On
17 September the trailers were camouflaged with pine branches.
Until mid-April. 1952 the ore had been transported to a refinery for processing
before it was shipped to the USSR. 'This refinery was in a tin-roofed puilding
50 meters long, 40 meters wide, and 7 meters high, at point DA-846292.'+ In the
latter half of April, however, the refinery suffered a bombing attack which
resulted in partial destruction of the building. After this attack the plant
could refine only about a third of the ore produced at the mines. The remainder
was shipped to the USSR as raw ore. There were about 60 laborers and tech-
nicians, two-thirds of them women, working at the refinery. In early August
the tin roof was removed from the refinery building in order to make it appear
completely destroyed. Some of the machinery was still operating until 28
September, when the building received a direct bomb hit which put all the machinery
out of operation. In October 1952, all the ore was being shipped to the USSR
in its raw state. In early October plans were being made to build an under-
ground refinery at an undetermined site. Construction of the underground
plant was to begin during November.
4. Prior to 5 August 1952 a cable car system transported raw lead and zinc ore
from a building about 10 meters south of the zinc mine shaft opening to another
building directly southeast of the refinery. Both of these buildings had tin'
roofs, were painted with coal tar, and were 20 meters long, 6 meters wide, and
3.5 meters high. The cable system was used to transport ore from both the zinc
and the lead mine shafts. The lead ore was brought to the cable cars by way
of the zinc shaft on an underground trolley which connected the two shafts. On
5 August a cable tower which stood about 30 meters south of the refinery, was
damaged by air attack. During the 10 days it took to repair the damage, raw
ore was transported to the refinery in trucks belonging to the mines. Repairs
were completed by 16 August, but because of a power shortage, the cable cars
could be used only 3 hours daily. Trucks were used to transport the greater
portion of the ore to the refinery. During the 28 September attack which
destroyed the refinery, 3 steel cable towers were also destroyed. On 14 October
the cable car system was still inoperable.
Prior to 5 August 1952, refined zinc ore was piped under water. pressure to a
plot of ground surrounded by sandbags which was at point DA-844293, about 150
meters northwest of the refinery. Another plot of ground of the same type,
which was not being used in October, was at point DA-844294, about 150 meters
north of the other plot. The refined ore was carried from the first of these
two storage pools5 to a tin-roofed wooden building which was 20 meters long,
7 meters wide, and 3 meters high. A cable car system connected the building
with the Yongyang Railroad Station about 3 kilometers away. After the air
attack of 5 August this cable car system ceased operations. On 14 October
it had not resumed operations. In October, about 2,000 tons of refined zinc ore
remained in the storage pool.
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About 20 Soviet technical advisers are at the Kum.to Mines. Five of these
advisers direct the work at the refinery; the rest supervise mining operations
and direct the search for new ore veins. The refinery advisers live in a
stone house built against the mountainside at DA-8+6299. A tunnel behind
the house is used as a shelter during air raids. Inside the house the
advisers wear their own civilian clothing but when they go to the refinery
they wear hemp work clothes so that from a distance they cannot be distinguished
from the Korean laborers. All 5 advisers appear to be about 30 years old.
They have a Korean interpreter about 25 years old who speaks the Hamgyo`ng
Province dialect. The interpreter is with the advisers constantly. The
other 15 advisers live in a stone house at DA-811290. The air.raid shelter
for this house is also a tunnel dug into the mountain behindd the building.
Each of the 15 advisers has 2 Korean assistants, young men in their early
twenties who had been trained at the KumtakTraining Center at DA-816293.
The office of the searching unit is in a small building about 7 meters north
of the residence of its members.
On 19 October 1952 a unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Security
Section was on duty in the Kuut& Mines area to guard against the infiltration
of South Korean guerrillas. The guerrillas were believed to be at Osong
Mountain (approximately DA-608303), about 10 miles southwest of the mines.
About 80 security guards were assigned to the mining area.
About 30 of these guards were stationed in the vicinity of Sindok-ni
(approximately N 40-559 E 128-4+8) near the refinery. The Sindok-ni guards
maintain.an office and billet in'a.Japanese-style house. The other 50
guards were stationed at Yongch'on-ni (N 41-069 E 128-46) (DA-809494). This
detachment had an office and quarters in a log and mud house. This building
was surrounded by barbed wire. A vehicle check-point in front of the
building operated 24 hoursa day. Another building of the same type but
without the barbed wire fence stood nearby. One guard was stationed in front
of each of these 2 buildings. The man guarding the office and quarters was
armed with a Soviet Mossin-Nagant rifle and the one stationed in front of
the other building was armed with a PPSh.
Just south of the vehicle check-point was an office with quarters for the mili-
tary police section of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There was ene guard
stationed in front of the building, armed with a Chinese 11 mm sub-machine
gun, Type 36 (sic). .
10, All security guards were armed with one or another of the following weapons
while on duty. Chinese 11 mm sub-machine gun; Soviet Mossin-Nagant rifle;
or PPSh.41. In addition., all officers above the grade of junior lieutenant
carried pistols of an undetermined type and every third man carried 2 hand
grenades. These weapons were Soviet F-1 defensive hand grenades and Chinese
stick hand grenades.
25X1 X Man Iron Mine at Kangs6n-d6ng
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11. On 9 December 1952 the Musan Iron Mine at Kangstn-d$ng (approximately
N 42-129 E 129-199 EB-2672) was producing about 39500 tons of iron ore daily.
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There were 3,500 workers, 500 of them women.6 The ore was being smelted in
Ch'ongjin This mine. was under the general supervision of the Control De-
partment of the North Korean, Ministry of,Industry.
25X1 X Ao ii Coal. Mine at Hooeam-dong
0
2 5X1A 1. Qomment. This may be part of the mining area known as the Komdok
e-ad and Zinc Mines. According to earlier information, the Komdok lead,
zinc, copper and gold mines are between DA-8534 and DA-8438 with an
additional shaft at DA-8434.
12, As of 20 November 1952 the Aoji (N 42-21, E 130-24) (FC-1508)'Coal Mine at
Hoeam.dong (N 42-319 E 130-21) (FC-1108) was employing 2,900 workers, 300
of them women. The daily production was more than 19000 tons of lignite-type
coal. Most of this coal was being transported to Songjin (N 40-40, E 129-12)
(EA-1701) where it was used to furnish power for dynamos. The coal mine
was under the general control of the North Hamgy?ng Coal Control Department.
25X1 A 2, Comment. This would have to be concentrated ore. Raw lead
ore orc narily assays between 5 and 6. percent.
25X1 A 3Q Comment. Thirty-six volts direct current does not seem reasonable
son the heavy electrical equipment described would not normally
operate at such low voltage. More likely, all three 36-volt sources
are combined in a single circuit to produce 108 volts of direct current.
25X1A4. 0Com~ment Th. is robably the Sindok Refinery (approximately
N -559 E 128-48) The 25X1A
Yoyang Railroad Station mentioned in this ear ier report is probably the-
Yongyang Station.
2 5X1A5 Comment. This pool is prob4bly used for further refining the
ore ra her than for storing.
25X1A6. F1 Comment, 25X1A
Hoeryong (N 42-269 E 129-45) to the Musan Mines in late September 1952.
25X1 A II located the Musan Mines at EB-3060.
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