MERCURY MINE IN IDRIJA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R002100800009-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 15, 1999
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: December 22, 1948
• Content Type: REPORT

CLASSIFICATION 4wJXVA#P"
Approved For Rel R*9 9WMpp164; R -00457RRpglg
INFORMATION REPORT
Yugoslavia
SUBJECT Mercury Mine in Idrija
cannot yet be estimated, but it is possible that it
1947. Reasons for the decline in production are:
1947 the output did not exceed 4,500 kgs. The produc
shipped. Before the war, 6,000 kgse of mercury were
slovakia and to the USSR; it is not known where the
shafts; the lowest level isaat a depth of 320 meters*
of the TITO-Cominform dispute, mercury from Idrija wa
sists of twelve levels, or fields, one above the other
25X1A2g
DATE DISTR. 22 Dec 194#'
Mercury ore is extracted in large quantities from a mi
pulverized and processed at the mine to produce mercur
war, and some of the installations have not yet been repaired.
b. In the fall of 1947 one of the three large furnaces in the clea
stallation at the mine, where the mercury ore is processed, was
of operation by sabotage.
a. The mine was almost completely demolished by the partisans during tho
the mine pumping station, was almost entirely destroyed by flood'ft
the and of July 1948.
c. The dam on the Idrija river near Crben Vrh, which supplied water
d. Miners are unskilled and discontented, and management is poor.
the TITO regime.
Personnel
Before the war, from 1,000 to 1,200 workers were employed at-the mine. At
present approximately 1000 miners are employed, most of them unskilled.
Wages are relatively low, ranging from 1,800 to 2,600 Dinars per month for
the average miner; foremen and specialists receive slightly more. The mine
live in poverty and are believed to be hostile to the Communist Party and
Mine Installations
;~ - OE: THIS
E PUBLIC RELEASE OF TH3 O. .? ~Y a
Letters correspond to those on the attached map.
 Approved For ReleasGEl0,U,lQ_tl,,,00457R002100800009-5
D.E.F.
The caloric (steam)-power-plant, which has thre npq4,tors, has re-
placed the mine pumping station as a source of power for mine machinery.
Twenty-three cubic meters of firewood arf used daily fix this plant.,
The wood was rushed to the mine from the Trnovo_WoQ4 o .ty.
station through a channel 3 km. long.
The pumping station, where power was formerly supplied for most of 'the
mine machinery. Since the destruction of the dam, the pumplrig station
has not been in operation.
46
25X;1 AZ,
A. Dam on the Idrija River near Crben Vrh, which was destroyed,by lood.
,.When the dam was. in operation, water was directed to the mine pumping.
Main entrances to mine shafts, used by miners for removal of ore,
Elevators are steam-driven.
G.H