COAL PRODUCTION IN HUNGARY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500780041-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 41
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2006/10/19: CIA-RDP80-00809AO00500780041-7
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
..D ]... Of TM! U... CCDD. ?S 1,D+.D(D. ITS T.1I.SYISSID? D. SYL.
NO. OF PAGES 2
NO. OF ENCLS.
SUPP. TO
REPORT NO.
1. The mines of Tatabanya, about 50 km west of Budapest) are the most im-
portant coalfields, in Hungary,. i.u.ning nas been going on there for 5V years, but
the equipment is quite modern, with electric railroads, drilling machines and pumps.
Six or seven shafts have been exhausted, but nine or ten are now being wo,*dvu. Trre
quaU .y of the coal is excellent and operations are to be exte:,ded.
2. The work force, including forced laborers, is about 10,000 men. They a_%c
worked in three eight-hour shifts. At present about 2.5 million -tons a year are
taken out. Of this, 50 percent is large coal; 20 to 25 percent each, nut and gra.v, '_
coal; and about five percent coal dust. Tataba'nya also has a briquette factory 'rr~tir
a daily production of 70 to 80 carloads.
3. The coal is taken away by railroad. The main users are the Blanhida pone:
station, the Budapest gas works, the state railroads, some war industries and building
heating installations in Budapest.
4. Forty km northwest of Budapest, at Dorog in the trans-Danube there is
another large -+n-ng installation on the Budapest-Gyor-Vienna line. This one also has
been worked fnr 50 years. There is,a branch in stC llationa; T0 190d, five _lpn,away . The
Tokod bra-.h has good modern electric equipment.
5. The Dorog mines employ 6,000 to 7,000 men, also working in three shifts.
Yearly production is about 1.5 million tons, in proportions like those at Tatabya.
There is a briquette factory at Dorog and a chemical works for the production of tar,
benzol and other byproducts. Dorog coal goes to the same places. The government
intends to extend operations at Dorog for the benefit of the chemical industry.
6. The V&rpalota mines are about 3.00 Ica southeast of Budapest, on the line of
SzAkesfeh&rvvr and Veszprem. The Couununists have decided to make Vcirpalota a model
installation. It has its own electric power station.
This report is for the use within the USA of the Intelligence components of the Departments or
Agencies indicated above. It is not to be transmitted overseas without the concurrence of the
originating office through the Assistant Director of the Office of Collection and DisseminatSon, CIA..
 Approved For Release 2006/10/19: CIA-RDP80-00809AO00500780041-7
SECRET
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7. Therc are about 1,500 men working in three shifts and the yearly
production is six to seven hundred thousand tons. At least 80 percent of this is the
highest grade coal. Varpalota supplies industrial installations particularly.
8. Komloat.P'se~art mas~a:st~ elcaawt- o beet a pr~fq'~1a1st1.1~atYv 1'n the industry
Formerly it was intended to serve the Mohacs Industrial combine in south Hungary, but as
that combine is not yet aoeplete the Eomld i es are supplying the coke factory at Pecs.
The work force is 3,000 in three shifts. Thanks to the depth of the shafts the work here
*..a very difficult in spite of the modernization of the mines. The yearly production is
about 5CU,000 tons, 25 percen` in large coal, 25 percent in smithy coal, 4,5 percent gravel
coal and five percent in coal dust.
9. The mines at Pees are among the largest in Hungary: They include the
mines of Pecsbinyateleu, Mecaekszabolcs, Vasas, Franz-Joseph shaft, Sz4'cseny shaft, and
Istvan shaft. Thaw ziiitje,`.Weia:the .prctpeTtyr > :G~mazi- trigarisa Danube shipping company
until-=.1945., at which tiaa'they lrre''=t'ur3rid" "iD"tha;Rungarian-Soviet shipping company,
the Meszhart.
10. The . :nines are well organized and modernized with electrics1 e4u_pme._t..
Only a row of them require pumps. The deepest go to 1,400 in. The 3,000 ie
three shifts turn out one million tons a year. The greatest part of this produc ,_nn goes
to Soviet ships on the Danube, only a small part going to Hungarian industry. Tt > produc-
tion is transported partly by railroad, partly by ship. The mines have their o=T-. Goal
loading railroad station.
11. The Maza mine is about 30 km. north of Pecs on the Bonyhad-Domnoz4-
I _:.e
.
~quipmeat is modern. The work force of 2,500 is in three shifts and yearly prot'LC
0 000 tone, almost all gravel coal. Theroal goes to i:.dustries and houses in southern trans-Danu'bc -regton. No extension is planned.
'_ ~:_
? s
12. ~ The mines placed in production at Ajka in the early 303 are above. 3':" rtn i.
west of Veazprem. The area also produces bauxite. The m!--es have 800 workers in .c,;
shl ts, producing about 250,000 torts a year, almost all gravel coal. The whole of
production goes to the aluminum and glass factories at Atka. The m'= es are to be
modernized and enlarged in order to increase aluminum production.
13. Pueztavam is about 70 km west of Budapest, near Mor. The mines emr _,,,'
about 300 workers in 'three shifts. They are only partly electrified. The
produc i ::.
about 150,000. tone a year of gravel coal, which goes mainly to small industry.
14. The mine 'mAana'ag~emient of Salgotarka r, 110 km north of Buda paat, J- '0- number of brpachos, 8e1gbtarjba itself, Kisterenye, Nagy'~atony, M9trano-rr, MGt?aui l z,e:_
Gybngyoa, Rozaaszentm~x-ton and Ambrasvolgy. These are browm coal mines with a yearly
production of 3 million tone altogether. The number of workers is about 25,000, in th. r t
Shifts.
15. Equipment varies much from place to place. The Salgotarja`u installations
are very modern, while those at Ambrusvolgy are quite primitive. A program for rapid
modbrnization and the increase of production has been set up. Part of the production
goes to the. steel mill and glass factory at Salgbtarja_, 30 percent to the Hungarian state
railways, the remainder to Budapest, Szeged., Debrecen and Szolmok.
16. The center of the Borsod coal fields in north Hungary is M skuic. To t s
area belong the mines of Kirald, Sejbszentpeter, Sajokazino, Barolka, Pu,nok, Rudabaoya,
6zd and a number of small, mines. The equipment vanes a good deal. Sojokazinc, Bar:ika
and Sajoszentpbtar are partly electrified and partly mecha`ical. The modernization. or'
the rest is proceeding slowly. The number of workers is abo'..t: 25, 000 In three shi 't s,
and yearly produoti_n is about 3.5 miilioa tons. The coal goes part_cularly to the _~?o=.
and steel foundries of Diosgy8r and bzd, the new cxie:m.? cal comb ne of Sa,job&bo y and the
power station at Kazinobaroika.
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