TREPCA LEAD, ZINC AND SILVER MINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R006300180015-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2001
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: November 22, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

C: ASS fi?; ?FACIA-G-3 OALY
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Approved For &a-4A? OTTO' r crx=RD0P82-002iiiiiikid00111.1111.
i010.13fAX NFOriiiiiiATRON !REPORT cp No* 25X1A
COUNTEnt .rag(,s1 -oria
SUBJECT Trepea Leads, Zinc and Silver Mine
25X1A
PLACE
ACQUIRc
COTE OF
INFO.
25X1X
2,47 NOV 50
DATE DISTR..
NO. OF PAGES ts,
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPP,..EtviENT TO
REPORT NO.
1, The Trepca lead, zinc and silver mineis divided into two separate parts;
the mine, sieuated near Stan i Trg, approximately 7,5 kilometers northeast
of Zvecan, and the smelting plant, located near Zvecan. The mine
located in a gorge between two mountains which are rugged in character and
considerably eroded. Communications in this area are extremely difficult.
The mine is administered by a director general who is appcinted by and
directly responsible to the General Directorate for Colored Metals of the
Serbian Republic in Belgrade.
2. The planned annual output figures are as follows:
1949 - 655,000 tens
1950 - 700,000 tone
3. Actual output:
a. Although the actual output for 1949 was 660.000 tons of ore the average
mean lead and silver content has decreased to 6 percent and 90 grams
per ton respectively, while tho zinc content was 3.9 percent. This in-
dica-tee that the ore deposits were not accurately surveyed, and the
estimates of the metallic content were incorrect,
b. The actual mining conditions make it possible to produce up to 2,300
tone of ore per day or 59,000 tons per month, working on three 8-hour
shifts daily. Working on the basis of 310 working days a year it would
be possible to produce 713,000 tons of ore in 1950.
c. The annual output of bad from the smelting plant in 1949 was 45,00o
tons.
4. Disposal of olltput: The ore is first of all submitted to ':,he pulverizer at
the mine itself and then transported by the overhead cable railway 60 the
smelting plant at Zvecan. Here it goes through flotation, agglomerad.on
and roasting processes, emerging as concentrates of lead, pyrites and zinc,
together with silver, bismuth and antimony as subsidiary peoducte, Most of
the output is exported abroad.
CoNWasTRoin
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5. Ore reserves: The ore reserves are divided into three categories based
on an official circular of Soviet origin, published and distributed by
the anistry of ndnes in Belgrade. The categories, applicable to all
mines in Yugoslavia, are as follows:
a.
Category A, subdivided into:
Category A-1: Deposits which have been accurately surveyed
and through preliminary workings are ready
for mining.
Category A2: Deposits whose shape and size are accurately
known and Which are more or less accessible
but which have not been prepared for mining.
Category B: Deposits whose rough shape has been established through
research and initial drillings,
Category C: Covers reserves estimated according to geological
indications.
b. Quantities
Category Ar
Category B:
Category C:
3,700,000 tons, with average
Lead - 7.5
Zinc
Silver - 125
mean content of:
percent
percent
grams per ton
2,100,000 tons, with average mean content of:
Lead - 7 percent
Zinc - 3.2 percent
Silver - 100 grams per ton
4,300,000 tons, with average mean content of:
Lead - 5 percent
Zinc - 2.3 percent
Silver - 80 grams per ton
6. Factors limting output
a. The 1950 norm will not be fulfilled unless additional equipment and
materiaLs are supplied to the mine. Especially serious is the shortage
of boring machines, rails and other materials.
b. The present number of workers is inadequate and additional labor will
have to be employed if the 1950 target is to be reached.
c. The average metallic content of the ore is gradually decreasing as the
depth increases.
7. The mine has its own thermo-electric power station, which supplies current
to the smelting plant and to the Trepca mine, as well as to the Kopaonik
and Novo Brno mines. The power station is situated at Zvecan and is
equipped with two turbines of 2,500 horsepower each, and one of 5,000
horsepower. They are of AEG and ACEA manufacture and are directly con-
nected with alternators, pooducing three-phased current of 3,000 volts
which is reduced to 400 volts for driving the machinery in the smelting
plant and mines, The boilers burn lignite which is imported from the Kosovo
lignite mine.
8, Machinery aid eoEtipment
a. The mine has a total of 400 drilling machines, of which 100 are in
good condition. They between 60 and 90 kilograre and have boring
tips of 32 mm. diameter, They are of Sullivan, Ineereoll Rand and
Chicago Pneumatic manufacture, and have water jet attachments which
function as dust supressors,
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b. An unknown number of pick hammers imported mostly from England and
Germany.
c. The main pumping station is installed on the sixth level, and has a
capacity of 18 cubic meters per hour. It pumps waton to the first
level, a height of 235 meters. In addition there are six pumps of
unknown origin, with a capacity of 15 cubic meters per hour each.
d. One winding machine is installed on the first level and is used for
raising loaded skips from the fifth and eixth levels to the first.
This machine is powered by an electric motor of 400 horsepower.
The whole system is capable of lifting a load of up to four tons.
There is no winding tower above the ground, but the cable is guidod
along a system of pulleys to a second winding machine which is mennted
in a reinforced concrete building situated on the side of the mountain.
Thir is also electrically driven by a motor developing 700 horsenower.
e. The mine has a number of Sullivan steam puwered hoists, each capable
of lifting up to 1,000 kilograms.
f. The mine has approximately 300 tip cars and 500 other types of mine
cars with capacities varying between 800 and 1,000 kilograms. There
are 14 battery power/electric locomotive of German origin.
Near the mine there are two conical crushers with a capacity of 50
cubic meters per hour. In addition there are eight pairs of cylindrical
crushers, approximately twelve ball mills, and an exbensive oteel cable
transport system which is in particularly had condition becanse of the
shortage of spare parts0
g.
h. The overhead cable railwaymhich connects the mine with tho nmelting
plant at Zvecan is seven kilometers long and has a maximum capacity of
5,000 tons per day, It was supplied by the German firm of Fleichert
and ie in good condition.
i. The smelting plant was enlarged by the Germans during the war and is
in good condition. The equipment includes two plans for agglomerating
the lead concentrate with coke, nine Neumann table furnaces :'or pro-
cessing the agglomerate and two "high" farnaces for silver emraction.
The maximum capacity of the Neumann ovene is 170 tons of lead per 21..
hours
j. There are three separate batteries of flotators in the flotation plant.
9. The total number of mine employees is 8,800, of whom 700 are women and
-400 forced laborers who work in Zvecan.
10, Working conditions
? ?
a. The mine and the flotation and smelting plants work 24 hours a. day,
on three 8-hour shifts. Other services work only by day. In the
first shift there are approximately 5,000 workers, while the second
and third have approximately 1,500 each.
b. The working week should consist of six days, but awing to directives
issued. by Communist Party and the Ministry of Mines in Belgrade,
the workers are not allawed more than two free Sundays per month.
Wages and salaries should be paid monthly according to the normal
systeml but, in actual fact, are paid at irregular intervals. This,
together with the lack of recreational facilitieu? has resulted in
an inadequate supply of free labor.,
11. The mine area, as well as the mine itself, is surrounded by barbed wire.
There are two separate iron gates giving entnance to the mine area, pee
of which is used by both workers and vehiclee, while the other is used
by ?erkers only. Both are guarded by the nine Militia. In addition the
Militia also patrols the entire area both day and nighb. The patrols
are doubled during the night.
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
12. Personalities
a. Drank? Petrovic
b. Vojin Stojsavljevic
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Deputy director of the mine. An ardent
Communist. Unintelligent, extremely
ambitious, dishonest and is generally
known as an eager denouncer.
Chief engineer. A renowned Communist
and a Party member. Untrustworthy.
An extremely ambitious opportunist.
c. Boris Sacharov Engineer. White Russian born in the
Caucasus about 1905. Entered Yugoslavia
in 1920. He is dangerously anti-Co1mm:113t,
and was retained in his present post
purely because he is indispensible. An
extremely efficient and qualified
engineer. His wife lives in Belgium.
IIIIIII,I1Comment: Maps and legends of the Trepca mine and smelting
i-ari7aigriali in CIA Library upon request.
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