INFORMATION ON URANIUM MINING IN EAST GERMANY (SOURCE: 204/G 3/50, GERMAN)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00039R000100090049-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 49
• Publication Date: November 14, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/05 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100090049-9
INFOR1W XON ON URANIU} MINING II 1A~T t M; NY
/ v November 1950
U.S, OFFICIALS CL?
STAT
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,t C"'!
fobs, Ranh pus of the original doouent was stupid (in Oemen ,
~3uitab1e for publioatio,!J
Perlineft toots,
Assignsa to ruing from 191laroh 39$ to 4 Fsbraary 1950, to "Ob jsot 4,
Shaft Grosso Xalvine, in AnMberg. (is last at the szperiasntal installation
at Roehndor t ns*r Ch .*nits, Si dispdtohor,
After I was assigned to the mess, I vs. first ssnt to Annaberg. I was
employed as dispatcher at the Malvin. shaft . The daily output aaountsd to
160 - i o aineoars par shift. Them were plenty of ore veins. The ore browht
i
out was taker to the ore-dressing planet in Obersohleaa. Acoording to sqr eeti?
mate, about 500 workers are saployed in one shift. Working conditions and
safety conditions are very bad.
The Ilalvine shaft his three levels, at 110, 150 -160, and approxiaately
180 meters. The lowest level was the cost produotive.
In June 1949 I was transferred to the experientg installation in Rosin's..
dart near Oheanits, and was also employed as dispatoher there.
The eocperiaentai installation includes three shafts. The toner second
shalt was closed down in November ! 11949. When I left only 110 en were
employed in one shift. The greatest soount of ore was being obtained by open-
pit mining and from Shaft 4. In the rest galleries in Shaft l there were in-
dioations of good ore production.
Production in Shalt 1 amounted to an average of 45 ainecars per shift.
The ore was sent to the railroad station for loading. !/map I do not know
what the destination was.
Open-pit wining has been stopped at present and is supposedly not to be
resumed until spring.
Engineer Rudi Kirsohberg (of the Spa -- Socialist Unity Party) is the
manager of the installation. The technical manager is Heins Barth. The in-
stallation isl not yet under Russian
Dated, 22 February 1950
.
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U.S. OFFCJALS C1LY
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O..qJfto ! $ :i.v
f L_ 5 ~ li
tw
YI_: r .i f '.
Pertinent Poste t
mining
kployed in from 23 Miy 1941 to 10 Pebrusp 1990, is ~Ob sots"
Pb. o99 and lOO in due, On g6 May 194 I stsr0ed work in the l;bor~to
of the soviet oorperstion "With" (3iath) at Objeot 100, I rrorked on
series es of redaction stag. of pr`oauotioa
p sap1es. Boob woo saaly$ed.
There inoludeds the run of ore, volution, saturated solution, rl solution
residue (ore aad sludge), conoentrate, and mete water. After a short tiro
I woo transferred to the experiregg laboratory. There experiaennts were
oonstan tly being oarried on to iiprove the produotion and the production
raintainsd constant supervision
processes. The laboratory abiefr over the
operations in the installation. When I was discharged alter oqr scoident, I
was rent to Object 99 to recuperate. I did ainor supervisioy jobs in the
laboratory at the installation and in the sludge departasnt which was still
under construction, until I was transferred back to Objeot 100 after a week.
Then q oareer really started. I rent through the production process and
was under orders from the aanageaut of the installation to learn ovary
stage of the r~ork so that act w
ually I as one of the/!n rho really know the
f
whole installation, " *; 4 "E e r* I;' 1'.i r w' 'gs rtr+, ~ l1 i iI ~ ; s ~~r~irr
r1.~ mire ~1f r' f~J .`~ /-ke J/ ~ ~rar rlr-l,k~i'r -~t h~ j,~ ~ ~~~hv+~r,.~ ~'~??, :~,
Hire I should like to
give a bMef ~isori ion
pt s
The ors arrives sit by rail it the aiding which runs to the installation,
There it is by
unloaded and oarried iit a lift about 500 meters long to the ball
sill, where it is ground. Tics there it goer to Departaen t s A and B.
Process, The ore is carried to a suction filter and covered with 6.9..
percent hydroohlorio avid, Alter # being leached twice with acid, the ore is
washed with water so that any, remaining aoid solution will be separated from
the ore. The residue is oarried to the dump, while the volution is processed
fuwther -- that is, *tpkt precipitated with powdered lime or soda lye.
in the said
Thus the process is to dissokve/the metal contained in the ore and then to
precipitate the metal salts by treating the solution with soda lye. etas
part of the preceding ventenae it aiesing in the original, but this appeared
to be the sense of it, 7 The volution containing the precipitate is then t
pu
through a filter press, and the residue is the concentrate. The solution is
L1i15. UIFICiLS 1LY
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/05 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100090049-9
~.L_iv ~ ., . ,, ..., ,r
U.S. CFFICIftLS $'LY
rsste ,rater. Tho oonodntrato is then dried and mud and a&~
run o!t ar
ready for rhip.Dt ?
d in this branch of production in Departsent 1, I was
kttor S had rarko
translorr4, on lS lsbruary 1949, and beoamo .hilt tores&n ik in Dopart~s:at O.
II lore~aia of a shift,
job,4nvo1ved the .pIti .vision off' the ohe*iosl rand teoh-
Iqr
nice/ proness, aad as 3,eader of the worker. I was also ruUy responsible for
the Departaent during the hours whioh I worked. This Depsrtwnt, which open'
:
eted ruoh,earo profitably than the others, the following
The ore ptepid in the form of sludge from the ball mill into two oonoon-
it separated from the water. From there it progresses
tratorswhere ,
,
awls in which it is treated with soda 5i47, during whioh
through wren ve
process the metal is dissolved. It taker a long time -- about a week - for
a grain of ore to pass through all there veesele, and 97-peroent extraotion
ved The sludge goes through a filter prase, and the residue from
is aohie
the press goes to the dump. The solution is sent to be pr.aipitated. 8et'ore
this can take place the solution must be treated with acid. This is dons
by adding hydroohloria acid. The rest of the process is the earn. as in De-
and 9: the finished connoentrate is put through a press, dried,
partmentr A
and mixed. Further processing taker place in the "Weisser yirsahtt inrtalla-
Lion in Sohneeberg.
Production at Object 100:
departments A, B, and C had the following produotion plans:
The processing dressed
Department A: 100 tons of ~cmaaou d ore per day. With one large and
concentrate presses, this would produce a theoretiosl yield of
four 1 ate: Figure was not clear; may have been intended to read: 235 kilogrssJ 23 - 25/kilograms of dried conoentrate per day.
Department 8: lib tons of dressed ore 4th 200 kilograms of con-
centrate.
Department 0: 50 tone of dressed ore and about 50 kilograms of
concentrate every 48 hours (two working days).
The average content of pure uranium for the various samples averaged:
Run of ore: 0.01- 0.018 peroes.
Solution (normal): 180 - 230 milligrams per liter
L1
ui,IctL
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/05 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000100090049-9
Solution (sludge) i 250 - 320 aailligrssas per liter
Conoentrstess 1.6 -1.8 percent Ersluation otter oonwreion
into pure ursniua
Conoentrste sludges 1.7 - 2.7 percent
waste wster: 8 - 14 milligrams per liter
ml actual production was usually about 5 - 1 percent above the pluvned
figure for dressed ore and about 1 - 1.8 peroent below the planned figure for
canoentrates.
All other departaante -- such as the ball mi11, the acid, ore, and eoda
trsnsportation departments -- had t ada~pD their work to thnt of the production
departments.
Personnel at Objeot 100, May 1949
Plant managers Dr Meister
Department managers: Rudolf Zimmer+1~Departmsnt A), tteinz Roehmiach
(Department B), Erhard Irmisch (Department C).
shift foremen:
Depsrta rrt Bs liax Dirg1'o1d9, Kurt Freitag, ail Zaohariade
Depsrtmerrt A s Ksr1 Martin, Frits Noetzo1d4, Horot ?#
Department C: Josef 9omieoky, Kurt Loistner, Hana Juergen Espig
Ball mill: Fritz Martin (new mill), Kraemer (old mill)
Transportations Frits Daneel
Laboratory: Eva Mog
BED plant groups Herbert Hillere#, Manfred MehlhorrrIH
PDSB (Free German 'oracle Union) plant groups Paul Vio1*
Construction departments Construction specialist Riohter
Technical department: Herbert 9anntag (obis! engineer)
e Indicates members of the 8E0
e# Indicates members of the BED who hold special positions.
Dated: 24 February 1950
u, ir'1UL
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Pertinent tuts:
kployed in wining troa 13 Jrnuary 1949 to X' 1949, ss diopstoher in
Ob jvot 1:, Shalt 157/5d, then as bookkeeper in the installstion's 5SD and PIQ1
administration.
Object 12 employs about 2,500 ? 3pAO men end ws tIs mining installstion.
The Obaeot operstes the following shafts: Shaft 30-22, 2/27/51/199/~54/1d7/54/39.
There is also a 15-san transportation unit attsohed to Obaeot 12,
A diapatoher reoeives 200 - 300 Deut ache marks nit per month j a miner,
500 -1,240; s master miner, 1,400 - 2,000; a chief muter miner, 1,500 - 3,000;
I deputy shaft manager, the eeme as a ohief master miner. There wades inolude
bonuses, prises, eta, The formula of 55-percent supplement for underground
work snd 20-percent eupplement for above-ground irk has been msintainsd, The
salsries of white-oollar workers run between 250 Ueuteohe marker plus 20-percent
supplement1 and 600 plus 20Fperoent supplement (chief bookkeeper).
1
During the last quarter year I was employed msirly ae & recruiting agent.
I organized ueembliee in oonjunntion with the Labor Office. We were not
assigned a quota to ut recruit. Most of the reoruitin, opertione were nip-
tin. I was employed in the Labor Office dietriote of Kanens, Aautsen, and
Coedits. The Labor Of f ioee, however, had a quota to fill. For .xample,
Kamens had to furnish 300 men per quarter year, Bautsn 300 men, and aoerlits
goo men.
I know that a new inetallation of the Wismuth Corporation (Object 2d)
was put into operation in the Food Iupply Office between Oetrits and aoerlits.
Ite main office wee in Ooerlits. After drillinge in this area were completed7
in December 1949, mainly women were employed up to the time of my departure.
The number of pereone employed in the inetallation may probably be estimated
at about 250 women and 50 mon. I also know that drillings are being under-
taken between Oatrits and Zittau and around Zittau. It is said that copper
has been found.
Dated: 14 February 1950
7 1
4
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I
Pertinent Pastas
1 know that the ore Frain the Oberaahlera region was ehipped as followat
ore
1. ml beet grade of ore (8tof f ers) 1e shipped ae o rude/to the
'orwarding ternin*l in Greet (USSR)
2. Lees valuable ores aro Dent to Lengertfo1d (Vogtland), Tannin.
borgethal, and Preiborg for dressing.
The ehlpsents of high-grade ~s crude ore are mado Fran tho Obersohisma
railroad station direst to t3reet. Ordinary box oars, which have been oheoked
Son ne,vioeabt1it7, are used for the ehipmente.
The ore from the ore-drawing plant is carried by truok.
The following ehip?ente were made from Obersohlemas
In Ootobar 1949, about three or four train. oP about 40 oars each
(15 and 20 tons). About 60 oars of grade II ~d ore were uaid to have been
loaded and shipped out daily. During the period From mid-January 1950 to
the beginning of February no ehipmente were made to Bract.
Dated: 17 February 1950
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