THE LAZO CASSITERITE MINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A006200280010-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 15, 2008
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: June 8, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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MFOQOAUOO N QC pOO Q
REPORT NO.
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES
CENTRAL` INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
COUNTRY USSR (Magadan Oblast))
SUBJECT The Lazo Cassiterite Mine
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE ACQUIRED
REQUIREMENT
REFERENCES
SOURCE EVALUATIONS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL
wao ioouod on 12 May, 1955, On page 1 of the above rport the odor na te?
(N 62-18? 19 for Pyatilot1 ohould be clanged to read (N 63?12o
3 152e O9 /'o
An Information Report with the abovo hoadis
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(Notoi Washington dlotrlbutlon IndIeatod by "X"I Hold distribution by "#'".)
000H
EPOOQ1r
U OORMMflOON INEPOOR
UOIFORMA
JcW'sr
8
MH REPORT'
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 Approved For Release 2008/08/15: CIA-RDP80-00810A006200280010-5
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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COUNTRY USSR (Magadan Oblast)
12 May 1 955
NO. OF PAGES - ... - , 8
REQUIREMENT
REFERENCES
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Jld, inietgaticn
1. The Lazo .Caesiterite Mine,.looatmd in the loco-(X 63?13, R 152-10) area,
,was part of the Upper Beymehan Ore Mining Combine (Verkhniy Beymohanskiy
gorno-rudnyy kombinat). Directly subordinate to the Laze mine were Camp
Qulikhari,.22 km northeast of Pyetil?t1a OT 62-189-31 151-27); the mine at
Ohapayev, 3 km from the Third Factory; rid'the Hadvadka mines 11 km from
Pyatiletka. The other units under the combine were the Second and Third
Concentration Factories, southeast and southwest of Pyatiletka,respectively;
and tl' Pyatiletk a, Cassiterite Mina, which employed criminal prisoners.
2. There was another organisational arrangement for administering prison
camps. In that organizations Camp Laso was under the Fifth Division :(section)
(Pyatoye otdeleniye): of Berlag (Beregovyye lageri)?"which handled only
political prisoners. In addition to Camp Laso, the Third Paotorg Camp?
and Camp Qulikhari were in the Fifth Division. The parallel organiza-
tion for criminal prisoners was the sixth OIP (Otdeleniye lagpunkt),
which was under Yuzlag.(Tugo-zapadnyye la eri). To this group belonged
Camp Pyatiletka; the Second Factory Camp (caseiterite); Camp 7th Kilo-
meter (Lager ehestogo-kilometr3), 7 km east of Pyatiletka, where the
prisoners worked in the woods; Camp Chapayev; and.Camp 13th Kilometer
(Lager trinadtsatogo kilometre,), 13 km wost of Pyatiletltoa, which was
also engaged in lumbering.
STATE X ARMY X NAVY $ AIR X. P61 ABC x
(Notes Washington distribution Indicated by "X" j Pield'distribution by
? . REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
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Labor, and Yaees
3.
In 1949-1950t
a total of approximately 1,500 were employed at the mine, .In 1952, .only
600 remained. Outside the mine and on some transportation jobs inside
the mine, .the prisoners worked in two shifts of 12 hours each. Borers
and haulers worked in three shifts of eight hours each. In 1952, about
400 prisoners worked inside the mine, and 200 worked outside. Of the
latter group, about 100 workers were blacksmiths, mechanics, sorters,
of ores and workers on the ventilators, compressors,. etc.
4. -Political prisoners received no wages until April 1952, and then half
of-this pay was withheld by the camp authorities. In addition,. there was
a deduction of 310 rubles per month for the food and clothing provided
by the camp. This amount was the standard deduction in all camps under
Berlag. .Of the remainder which was owed,to the prisoners 14 percent was
deducted as a "liberation.fund0. Many prisoners received about 9 0 rubles
per.month, paid in three installments.
5?
.The Lazo Oassiterite Mine was begun in 1935 or 1939 and was be g quickly
exhausted. Originally, it had nine or ten shafts or sections: About r
seven sections were abandoned in 1951, and, in 1953, work was carried on
in only four sections. The main section was Mime No. 7. (sedmoy shtol),
which had an electric train. All the ore was brought to this section
for further transport to the Third Factory. .There were chutes in the
upper mine shafts, and the are was dumped down; in the lower shafts, the
ore was collected from mine drawers (lyuk) and put into mine cars. De-
pending upon the sections in which the miners worked, the oars were
filled by hand-shovels, by a mechanical shovel which picked up the ore
and !lumped it backwards into the oar, or from the mine drawers. The mine
cars were pushed by hand onto the mine elevator (klet), which took them
up, one by one, to Mine No,.7. The mine care all had a one-ton capacity
6. Normally, only free workers were allowed to handle the explosive, After
the holes were drilled,:the amnonal, which was similar to dynamite;, was
e plodid,at regular hours, at 0600, .1600, and 2000 hours. After spring
1953,?when a group of prisoners was caught manufacturing hand grenades
from some dynamite which they had obtained, only soldiers were allowed to
handle the explosive in the Lao mine.
7?
The mine was worked all year, day and night. The seasons made no great
difference in the operation of the mine. In Mine No.'5, which was 25.0m
deep, ?it was cold the year around. Even in the summer, -the miners entered
it wearing heavy clothing; in winter, the temperature in the mine was
-450.0. ,In Mine No. 7, the main mine, the temperatures went down to -6000.
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In the lower sections of the mine, there was water which had to be pumped
out. Water did not freeze in the pumps when they were working continuovaly,
but the pipes were usually covered with hoar frost, When the pumping
stopped for any reason, the pipes had to be melted with steam.
8. The natural cassiterite ore was dark red or brown. When there was
cassiterite in the rock, it appeared as small,, shining points in the rock.
The ore could also be detected by the weight of the rock. A piece of rock
the size of a fist weighed three to five kg when there was much ore in
it. After the ore was concentrated, cassiterite looked dark blue, almost
black. Apparently, agsiterite was very hard, since the borers broke
their drill points (p obedit) when drilling the cassiterite ore. The
metal content of the ore varied greatly, from eight to 60 percent. The
average was between 18 and 25 percent. The ore which contained less than
eight percent of metal was dumped near the Third Factory. Occasionally,
prisoners were assigned there to pick out some of the better pieces.
cassiterite was used by the army to make tank armor.
9. All the energy in the mine was generated by electric power. The drills,
however, functioned by compressed air. Also, a hammer (molotok), which
weighed 32 kg,.was activated by compressed air. For drilling upwards,
miners used a special drill called . This tool was about three
meters long and could be extended 2.20 m; in addition, there were special
extensions of one, two, or three meters which could be attached to it. In
1952,,duet masks (respirator) were given to the face workers (zaboyshchik)
and the borers (burilshchik). The mask had woolen pads on the cheeks, and
it covered only the nose and mouth. hater, water was added to the drills
to keep down the dust. In 1952, a mechanical shovel for loading the cars.
was introduced in Section 294 of the mine. Much new equipment was
brought to the mine; it was of Italian, Ozeohoslovak,,and American origin,
There were ventilators in all parts of the mine where work was carried on.
The pumps in the mine were of various origins, German, Czechoslovak and
There was a number on every
piece of equipments but the number was meaningless, since it did not rely
to~. the model but only to the worker who had made that particular item.
ZgodMgtiorL
10. Production at the Lazo Cassiterito Mine decreased steadily after 194.9.
At that time,eaoh section (uchastok) had a norm of 300 cubic meters per
eight hour shift; nine sections were in operation. By 1952, only Sections
Nos. 6 and 7 were in operation. Their output varied between 240 and 360
cubic meters. The individual norm varied a great deal, depending upon
where a miner was working. A loader and hauler (otkatohik, 300 m away
from the mine, had to fill seven one-ton oars, but there were many
irregularities. For example , every prisoner had his own number tags,
which he placed on a loaded car. The car went up the elevator and, at
the exit, was credited to the man who had loaded it. At the end of the
shift, each prisoner's numbers were totaled. Frequently, however, pri-
soners switched the number tags from a well-loaded oar to their own,
which was not as full. At other times,, they transferred ore by shovel
from another car to their own.
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11, In 1949. more than 250 truck loads of ore were moved from the mine to
the factory. The old ZIS trucks then in use had a capacity of 1 to 1.5
tons. In 1952"19$3, only 60 to 70 tracks were loaded per shift. At
this time, however, the ZIS trucks were newer, and each had a capacity
of 1,5 to 2 tons. After the death of Stalin., work was out down, and
often only one br wade worked where two had previouehy been used,.
Pr 0, eroe ct ins
There were
12. Prospecting for new mining areas went on continuously.
various d&errieks (towers) in the lezo area, which were digging stations
or find&in,g new ore deposits. These towers were manned by criminals
from the -~atlletka camp. At the foot of each tower there was a large
box with compartments in it. For every metier that the bore went down,
a 'sample was deposited in the box. When the box was full,'iA wasep ial
to the labozretory, in the Third Factory area for analysis. lwo, research brigades made up of criminals were sent to the hills to explore
for any kind of metal. Bach brigade was composed of 12 men, who. reeei*;ed
The latter gage them a may and told them
inetruct~aon~e from an engineer.,Hied such -a b?r~gade~.~ They
where to goE. Trequently, a geologist acoomp
brought back samples, which were analyzed in the laboratory. Theste men
were paid two or three times as much as ordinary workers, and they're-
calved extra premiums when they were succes7sful.
13.. Before the, introduction of the dust ma k.s, there had been 120 persons with
tuberaulo,B&e and silicosis in Camp Lazo.. After safety measures were in-
t~roduaed tihe incidence of these diseases decreased,
P_cy..aeMA-jj,j,t'i e9
14. 7o1lowing. are
a. _ 8uga ltIsfov
a vacation in 1952
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personalitiee connected with the miner
the mine (nachalnik rudaika)
Oherrrakov (fnu)t Ohief engineer in early 1952?
Betrov (fnu): Chief engio,eor in 19
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d, Tarakanov (fn?u)t Dispatcher (disepstcher) of sect-ion loo. . unstkil about
1. 0 He distributed the work in his we.ot, on.
e,, Feodo:sov (fnu
sorting ore.
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f. Palchik, Mikhail:: Chief of source's brigades
g. aandarakhinov (fnu): A Cossack, became dispatcher after Tarakanov, of
Security
15. The entire ' mine. was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence about 2.50 m high.
The fence had three wires, which were connected by a cross wire. On the
outside of the fence, there were boards, about every 20 p, which bore the
inscription zap -n (forbidden zone).! On the inside, about every 50 m, there
were dogs tied to a running wire. They were German Shepherd dogs ('yolk).
See pege 7, number 30.
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Legend to Enclosure. Sketch Mau of Lazo Cassiterite ne
1. Entrance to Main Pit No. 7 (sedmoy shtol).
2. Hammer repair station (molotok remont).
3. Bunker 20m x 3 m (height), held 600 tons. This is where the ore went
after sorting, for shipment to Third factory in trucks.
4. Sorter (aortirovka).
5. Bunker where the ore was dumped to go by conveyer belt to the sorter.
6. Endless conveyer (beekonechnyy) to take low grade ore to the dump.
7?
8.
Dump (otval). Ore containing six to nine percent cassiterite was dumped
there to be used later when the mine was exhausted.
'Wood construction shop (stroy-teekh). Mine drawers, walks, and, other devices
needed in the mine were made there.
9. Office of mine Section No. 1 (uchastok).
10. Mine Pit No. 10 (shtol).
U. Mine Pit No. 4 (shtol).
12. Office and tool depot for Mine No. 4.
13. Mine Pit No. I-
14. Various exploration borer towers'..
15. Office for all the mine sections (uohastok).
16. Mining lamp shop and ventilators. Miners left lamp batteries here for re-
charging at the end of the shift.
17. Compressed air station.
18. Office of the Lazo mine directorate,
19. Showers.
20. Electrical workshop (elektro-teekh).
21. Dispensary (ambulatoriya) and mechanical shop (mekh.tsekh).
22. Restaurant for prisoners.
23. Mine Pit No. 2 (ehtol).
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24.
Forge (kuznitsa).
2'5.
Bunker.. Ore from Mine No. 2 was moved there by a windlass (lebedka).
26.
?mmonal storage.
27.
Watch tower.
28.
Guard post.at entrance of mine.
29.
Barbed wire fence, three strands and some crosswise; height: 2.50 m.
Outside there was a ring of powerful are lamps about every 100 m. In-
side there were small sign boards with an inscription:
"Forbidden Zone".
30.
Sign board. In this mine the inscription was: zap-n.
not explain the , (In Camp Gulikhari, the sign read:
Source could
Ai.) 1
31,
Office of 5th Division (Otdeleniye), B erlag,, MVD.
32.
Garage which serviced the whole of the 5th Division.
330
Storage depot of clothing and food for 5th Division.
34.
Camp Lazoi
a. Dining hall.
be 12 barracks (shown in black).
o.. KVCh (cultural-educational division).
d. Hospital.
e. Showerse
f. Solitary confinement barracks (izo4r'or or kartser).
g. Caurp prison which was also used by 5th Divisions
he, Camp office building,
350 %rrieon barracks.
36. Showers for free workers.
37? Prison for free workers.
38. Headquarters of local Communist Party.
39. Office~of the Lazo Mine (rudnik Lazo)
Caseiterite Mine and Third Factory.
which was in control of the Lazo
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40. Club house.
41. School.
42. Wood storage - fuel. wood, and lumber.
43. Dwellings. These houses were in a small vale.
F el C mule In Orotukan R 62-16 E 1 1-42)
the sign read: !
Oho. ?
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N1i 1 t i
$c1 Mp rk 13$4 -5$
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