U-238 CONTENT OF PITCHBLENDE IN ORE MOUNTAINS ESTIMATED AT 1,500 TONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600350786-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 786
• Publication Date: October 31, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600350786-1
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
CLASSIFICATION F.ESTRICTED
COUNTRY Czechoslovakia
SUBJECT Economic; Military - Uranium miring
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newFpapers
WHERE
PUBLISHED Zurich
DATE 24 Au 14 sop 1950
PUBLISHED g,
LANGUAGE
TNI! DOCY N[M1 CONTAIN! INFORMATION AffICTIML TNl NATIONAL OI FLNfI
Of TNl YNIT30 fTATl3 MITNIM iN[ NIA MIN[ 0/ [l IIO NA[[ AOT l0
Y. !. D., f l ANO fi, A! Ap[NDL D. IT! TRANSNif [ION Op TNL p[T[LATION
Of ITS LO NTLNT3 IN ANT NANN[R 70 AN YNAVTN O RIZ[0 Ilp]ON 1[ IRO?
NI[IT[0 pT LA1. RI MODY CTIOM OF TNI! FORR If FRONI[ITI D.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 195G
DATE DIST. ~ / 'Oct. 1950
N0. OF PAGES 3
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
U-238 CONTENT OF PITCH9LENPE IN ORE b10UIVTAINS
ESTIMATED AT '_.500 TONS
WAIT PRISONERS WOF.K IN JACHYMOV b1INE -- Zurich Die Tat, 24 Aug 50
The Czechoslovak-German Ore Mountains, which are in Soviet hands, contain
pii:chhlende with an e-timated U-238 conter.` of 1,5CG tons, The Jacbymov urani-
um mine, along with the mines at Aue, Oberschl.ema, yo.rkt Ceorgenstadt, and
pnnaberg (in Sachsen), is the most imnortar_t uranium mine in the triangle Formed
ry Cheb, C~sti, and Chem..^.itz.
Thus far the reault~ of the Sri L.ings in Pribr.am, I.lmer_au (Thueringen), and
Wernigerode ;Hartz Dlowatainsj are not known..
?:ie 7achyrl,ov wins is ::oWir_ally run by a Czech superintendent, but the ac-
tu~l supervision of the mine is under Soviet mining engineers. At first the So-
viets took over the Rerdeswi %pratrstvlY/, S'vornost, Rovnost, and Sibham Lun-
ident.ified% Fhafts, which were previously used for gold and silver mining. To
the above ?hey have sdded the it30-meter Elias shaft, which is still being expanded.
The Rerde~-wi shaft, which is 550 meters deep, and the other shafts, which are
P.00 meters deep, carnet be deepened because of flooding? The roads between the
five mines are altogether 14 kilometers long.
The shafts are driven into splintery rock which contains a few uranium
veins, which are from 2 to 5 centimeters ir. diameter. The rock is blasted with
d}mamite; safety precautions ir_ the mines are average. There is no modern ma-?
chirery available fo:r ;lipposing of the blasted rock, which is merely loaded on
mamaal dump cars and taken to the exits, some of which are 1,b00 meters away.
The methods used for separating the uranium pitchblende from ordinary rock are
also very primitive, cen_iderirg the urgent Soviet need for atomic bombs.
The .rock is first examined with measu_*ing devices, and, if it is radioac-
ti~~e, it i~ crushed with rock crushers.. Then it i; put on tables wrens it nn-
dergcea {;he floatation. process. The monthly production of the Jachymov mines,
when thry writer waF there, was 45 to 47 carloads of nre, which was sealed and
sent to the USSR,
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After the E11as shaft reaches i+.s full production capacity, it is hoped
that the monthly output will be increased t,?';5 or even 6C carloads.
Until 1948, then= eras ~= great water shortage in the Jachymov mines, so
?hat a water pipe had to be laid in 1948 And .lj'!J from Abert,amy.
During the first pos?war years, *.he Soviets used 4,7(.0 `erman ar_d Aus-
trian prisoners of war and 500 Czech civil prisoner;. in the Jachymov mines.
Tn the fail of 191+7, r:cout 2,000 men were brought to the mine from Lvov
and ].,200 from atettin.. Tn July 191x8, an additional ?1,5:'0 men were brought
from Riga. The Soviets aseigned 250 prisoners of war and 50 ordinary pris-
oners per shif+ to each shaft- Ordirarii.y the tt?roe-shif+, system is used.
The majority of the Stettin shipment was used for constructing the Elias
si!aft Prom h;ay until Idevember 1949, the W15n:u: - AG in Plauen asked for
fi`~e groups of prisoners of war for the new uranium mines in Annaberg. From
here most of the. prisoners of war escaped to the West. Ey tY;e beginning of
this year, :!.,735 prisoners cf war wer= left in Jachymov, bat. they were re-
patriated on 5 February rhrough Frankfurt am Oder..
Upon Soviet request, the Czechoslovak government made available 4,Ov"il
of it; political and criminal. prisoners. Every ~mderground worker receives
].,OOU grams of black bread, 1C0 grams of meat, and 30 grams of margarine,
daily.. Surface worltere receive AGO grams of bla.r_k bread e day. For one
kilogram of ~.rranium ore, a worke: receives 5 or 6 crowns in addition to the
allotted food. The prisoners are heavily guarded by special Czech police
dr-tachments.? Few escapes are att..eu,pted, and these as a rule are not succe~s-
ful. -- Dr Erich Mathis
I;LSrO~IER URANIUM IN BOHEMIA -- Neue Zuercher Zeitung, 14 Sep 5C
Ir. addition to the dozens of new uranium mines which ere being opened
wi'..u*: the F:arlovy Vary - Marianske Lazne - Jachymov triangle, uranium. de-
po~i.ts have been found ir.t]s+_i end Tepiic?-Sanov in northwestern Bohemia,
Fro~recting has taken place also in the Prdy Mountains near Pribram and Po-
bris in c3ntral Bohemia. The prospecting is headed and controlle3 by In-
spector Hel.ubec
lr, rornection with the exploi.tati.on of u_*anium ore, new roads and rail-
roads are being built and forced labor camps srer_.ted.. A.11 the available
equtr,:ar-.nt and machines are being transported to the Jachymov area.. Mining
equipment which was originally sla+.ed for iron and coal mines is being re-
b~~i1t for the needs of the Jachymov uranium mines..
The Jachymov area was occupied b;~ the Soviets in 1945 and no Czech of-
fi.ciai.s 1-~ad access to it cr could obtain any information about it. All or-
ders come straight from Moscow and are carried out by a Soviet executive com-
mittee. The present Soviet administration is being assisted by an exclu-
sively Soviet technical staff, The security organs are subordinated to a
special section of the biVD. The director of the Jachymov mine is the Soviet
erlgineer, Dr Kazarct!enko; the shafts are supervised by Engr Litvinov, and the
chemical research works are treaded by Dr Garbizin. The headquarters of the
Soviet uranium mission in Jachymov is the Radium Palace Hotel, which was con-
fiscated for this purpose, A Soviet research institute is also located in
the hotel,.
The largest uranium-ere vein runs beneath Plesivec Mountain along the
Jachymov-Abertamy highway. Within a radius of 15 kiiomete;rs, there arp- +
seven important uranium mines: Pratrstvi with 1,000 forced _aborers, ~~:ost
with 1,050, Elias with 600, Eva with 700, Svornost with 800, and Barbora witi.
300, These mines are surrounded by dozens of other mines which are either in
~~~
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STAT
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the experimental stage or are slready con,ribuT.ing onsiderably to the total
produc+.ion.. The Jachymov mines border on a.n extended system of forced labor
camps, the largest of whici'_ is the Vykmanov ramp, with a capacity of 4,000
prisoners.
The Svornost mine is a typical combination o:^ a mine a,nd forced labor
camp.. It resembles a fortress rather than a. mine. The mine is surrounded
by a doubly. barbed-wire fence and sentry towers z~uipped w:.th machine guns
end earchlights. The security organs also use dogs Fo ward the prisoners.
?hN actual forced labor camp is located a? til? center of the mine area and
is also surrounded by a barbed-wire fence The shaf`,e s.nd the forced labor
ramp together constit,zte a miniature mininrz town with. it E' own power plant,
office buildings, laboratories, canteens, guardhouses, =_nd barrac:ks~
T.hE barracks within the forced labor ramp ar? unheated and are badly
protected against rain. There is oa7;/ one wasbtiG;wl. for '_SO pt'isoriErs,
The inmates are given a starvation diet, mskicg. the death rate high.
Political prisoners who are sentenced T.o forced labor and are selected
for Jachymov are interned at the Bory Prison nearfPilsen,~hnrrcamasy aTheir
registered and. then transported on i.:'ucko t~ .h- _.,_..__ _-.--
daily program is as follows; reveille at 045, morning shift at. 0520, lunch
at 1210, roll call at 1300, afternoon shift a 1400, afternoon roll call at
1700, evening meal at 1800, ideological training between 1800 and 21C0,
nigh+. shift e.t 2100, end of night shift at 2200, and lights out. at. 2300.
The following well-known persons are imprisoned at Jachymov- yProf
Frantisek Loubal, former chairman of the N.oravian National Assembl his
brother, Dr Gustav Loubal; Dr Stanislav Novotny, representative of a Catholic
party: Dr Toul, professor of the Theological School of Oiomou; Oniversity;
and the radio announcers Stefan Idaslonka gad Zdene'r. Mar_cal n addition to
the above, high army officers, university prcfeesors, priests, and unknown
members of the undergrettrid are also interned here. Lllegel anti-Communist
Syr UUpS are forming at. +,}.r labor camps themse ivE=: 'lhace groups have suc-
ceeded several times in helpt7g threatened r_risoners to esrape to the PS
zone of Germany.
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