THE BOR COPPER MINES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R005200490001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 19, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP82-00457R005200490001-4
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OUNTRY Yugoslavia
.46
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
SUBJECT The Bor Copper !dines
REPORT
CD NO.
50X1-HUM
DATE DISTR.19 JUL 50
NO. OF PAGES 2
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO 50X1-HUM
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
1. About 75 percent of the coFper ore requirements of the milling plant
in Bor are obtained from open pits located very close to the plant.
One pit-about 2 kilometers in diameter--is now so close that the
milling plant may so nhave to be moved. The main subsidiary sources
of copper ore are the copper mines located at Tiljva and Tiljva fika.
2. The main economic minerals in Bor copper ore are Chaolcocite (Cu2S)
and Covellite (CuS) with Bornite (Cu2S.CuS.FeS) and Pyrite (FeS2)
associates. Chaolcocite, though found in smaller quantity than covel-
lite, is of excellent quality and contains a copper concentration of
10 percent. Copper concentration in the covellite is 13 to 5 percent.
3. The copper ore is crushed to 0.7-mm. and then "wet classified" in
30 meter long tanks. From "wet classification" the pi,lp is passed
through "froth flotation" em toying 350 flotation cells and borax
oil reagents. Following "froth flotation" pyrite concentrate is
conveyed to dumps and copper concentrate, dried, and sent to the
smeltink plant.
4. Copper concentrate is agglomerated to nut size in 25 furnaces ac-
cording to the British system, and then smelted with coke in water
lined furnaces to produce copper sulr.hide containing 35 percent pure
copper, following which it is resmelted in 6 converters to produce
90 percent copper blistor. The last stage of refinement is effected
through electrolysis. Here copper anodes are placed in ?00 smC..ll
tanks containing an electrolyte of copper su.?.pnate';alution. Pure
copper sheets, or cathodes, are suspended between the anodes. With
the passage of the current from the anodes through the electrolyte
to the cathodes, the copper dissolves from the anodes and-'a de-
posited, more than 99.9 percent pure, on the cathodes. The impur
'ties., which include gold, settle to the bottom of the tanks and ara
recovered. After the cathode copper is removed from the tats, it is
smelted, conditioned., and cast into "wire bars" (dic) In 1947
modern equipment was installed to process the gold .
electrolysed copper. Gold recovery e re
now averages about recovered from
t 22 grams per
electrolysed copper ton, and about 230 kilograms per year.
Document No. _______Q1 ----------
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Date: __ 2 ______
ACQUIRED
DATE OF
INFO.
TINIS OOCDi?Dnt ';OiTAIMS IaFOROATOa APPSCTIROTHE IIATIOMAL DU 5ISE
OP TIND O'.&AID STATIB IMID THIN IIINADIRO OF THIN asPD)aAOB ACT SD
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OP T$ )HTmm III ANT IIAHaoo TO AD DINADTHOniz&D PaooOP IS P
6IiC3TVC) By LATI. REPCODucuON OP Tills FORM IS Peoai2ITBD.
50X1-HUM
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP82-00457R005200490001-4
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP82-00457R005200490001-4
L
CONPf3TI~OL~iT.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
CL?NTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
With the help of foreign technicians, :costly Germans, production rose
after 1916 until for the first eleven months of 1949 the production
figures stood at 37,000 tons of smelted copper, of rshich 11,000 tons
had ueen refined electrolytically. About 90 percent of the total
production of copper in Yugoslavia is destined for export. Copper
for home consumption is extremely difficult to find and very strictly
controlled.
6. Until 1948 Bor received its power from a small thereto-electric station
located at the plant itself, and fro_a r?is and Zajecar power stations.
In 1948 Bor was linked up with the new Mali Kostolac therrno-electric
power station, capacity 49000 kilowatts. In spite of this, power
supply still remained inadequate to meet the plant's needs, especially
those of the electrolytic department, and so orders were issued to
hasten the completion of the Veliki Kostoloca power station which the
Germans bean ouildin?; during the war. This station has a designed
capacity of 44,000 kilowatts. The first 10,500 kilowatt generator
was recently installed. Work is also proceeding on the construction
of a new hydro-electric power station on the Vlasina River which is
planned to serve iior, anu which is scheduled for completion in 1951.
7. Coal is obtained fro.,L the Rtanj lines near .ietovnica. Calcite is
conveyed by cable fro;a lime kilns 7 kilometers distant.
8. A new col.per rolling mill has been built near Zajecar. The mill
buildin -220m x 60m--has already been cu,:rpleteci. The mill was
planned to )eCin operating in 1943, but owing to the Cominform dispute
and the fact that Czechoslovakia never delivered any of the required
machinery, the mill building remains empty. This mill when completed,
is planned to roll cathode copper and produce copper piping, wire and
nails.
50X1-HUM
Coinment: Mainly because of gold recover
th
y,
e Yugoslav Govern
.vent p acI es very great importance on increasing the production of
cathode copper, and aims at prouucin ; 35,000 tons per annum -.just
5,000 tons short of the present smelted copper capacity of Bor. The
difficulties in achieving this target are very great: no great in-
crease of smelted copper can be expected so long as present worn or
ot6olete smelting equipment is retained, and no great increase of
cathode copper can be expected so long as the present limited power
supply is not considerably increased.
tOL-U. S. OFFICIALS ORLY
? Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP82-00457R005200490001-4