USSR STEPS UP EXPLOITATION OF MINERALS FOR BUILDING PURPOSES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600280593-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 593
• Publication Date: January 30, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN MOCIJMENTS OR RATIO ARCOAC-CASTS Ch
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Economic - Mineral resources
HOW
WHERE
PUBLISHED USSR
DATE
PUBLISHED 25 Aug - 19 Nov 1949
LANGUAGE Russian
TN I3 OOCUY[YT CONTAINS INTORYATION .IT[CTINO THE NATIONAL .......
OF THE UNIT[D f!ATSS NN[ THE HEATING OF CS.IONACC A IT 11
Y. [ C.. Si ANO 3.. AS dY [N OD N ITS TRApf ITSION ON TN[ RT V[L.ITION
O[ ITS CONT[NTT !N ANT YAXp[R TO AN UNAUTNORIZ[0 9[RSON i3 .KO'
NISIT[O ST LAk'. R[Rq ODYCTION O! TNI3 TORY IS tRON1R1t[O.
50X1-HUM
Newspapers as indicated.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
USSR STEPS UP EXPLOITATION OF MINERALS
FOR BUILDING PURPOSES
CNNtmbers in parentheses refer to the appended sources
Main Sources of Materials
The Soviet Union has large reserves of natural stone for building
purposes, including marble, granite. gabbro, syenite, labradorite, and
various types of limestone. The best-known deposits are: Prokhorovo-
Balandino white marble and Ufaley greyish-blue marble in the Urals;
Lopotskiy white marble end Shrosha and Saliyeti marble in Georgia; black
Davalu marble in Armenia; Golovino labradorite and red Leenikovekiy granite
in the Ukraine; and Birobidzhan rose marble in the ?e.vish Uiton_eo a Oblast.
In the southern part of the USST. limmatone and she;.) rock is wide],V teaad
for building. (1)
The Laboratory for Physicomechanicai Research of Rocks, Geological
Institute, Academy of Sciences USSR, does research on building stone.
The laboratory is testing various types of rocks for use in construction
of tall buildings in Moscow. More than 500 samples have been tested.
Besides laboratory work, field research is carried on to determine
reserves of high-grade building stone. Field work is done in the Moscow
area and in the Ukraine. There are rich deposits of limestone near
SerpuEhov, Aleksin, Kaluga, Tula, Venev, and Mikhaylov. This rock is
very durable and nonporous; it can be easily polished and is suitable
for facing interior walls. In addition to light shades of limestone, there
are some brown and black varieties in these deposits. (2)
The Koyelga and Proh:horovo-Balandino Mine Administrations, Ministry of
Construction Materials Industry USSR, have shipped to Moscow more than 700
cubic meters of white Ural marble to be used in the Moscow State University
STATE NAVY NsR9 DISTRIBUTION
ARMY [XIA;R
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1949, the ministry's quarries will send more than 3,000 cubic meters of
granite for Moscow constriction projects. (3)
building. The same project will soon receive rose Uzoek and red Nizhne-
The Ukraine has long been famous for its granite. This region has
many icoerkable varieties of red and grey granite of different, shades.
Near Zhitomir, there are deposits of valuable labradorite, a black stone
showing dark blue and light blue iridescence in the sunlight. The best
granite deposits are in two areas of the Ukraine? near Zhitomir, and be-
Research work is also being done in the Transcarpathian Ukraine, which
has valuable colored and white marble. (2)
Granite found along the benks of the Yuzhnyy Bug is not inferior to
Ural granite. It has been used in the construction of many community cen-
ters and theaters of Moscow, Kiev, ,Kharkov and Odessa. In postwao years,
the Al.e.keendrovskyy Stone -Crushtbg Plant; in Vozre:,enskiy Rayor, Nikolayev
Oblast, has produced and shipped. to Moscow over 100,000 carloads of granite
to be used in building the subway anc'. for the Moskva Rive. embankment.
Among Ukrainian granite quarries, the Trikratskiy Quarry is foremost
in production, having fulfilled. the 1949 plan. (4)
Caucasian Resources
There are large deposits of high-grade marole in Kvemo-Svanetskiy Rayon,
Georgian SSR, which are insufficiently utilized An automobile road, in
fairly goud eonditiou, connects the marble deposits with the nearest railroad
station, Kutaisi,
Theis type of marble is very adaptable t, processing. Samples were sent
to the "Graznramor" Comb.'.r:= h Tbilisi in December 1946. H-wev^r, nothing
has beeri done toww_d erpicitation of these deposits. (5)
Mountains of Armenia have ine,,hcueti*_le rese,Tas cf na{ :ac.7. ?onstructi,7n
materials such as tuff, marble, and granite. These mrteriul,V. are -:,zed in
many projects throughout the country. Over 0,000 tali'. .stem of r.rOC? colored
tuff have been shipped for construction of tea factories :n %e.rg;,&. Ncw
sanatoriums are being built in Sochi from colored varieties of tuff. arge
granite blocks are sent to Baku.
Stone quarrying for new construction is expanding. Tuff-cutting machines
have been installed in quarries and stone hauling has been mechanized.
New quarries have been opened in northern Armenia, where rich deposits
of cream-colored tuff have been found. Twelvr different shades of tuff are
being quarried. The output of tuff blocks has tripled since the war. (6)
The Yerevan Quarry Administration, Ministry of Construction Materials
Industry, Armenian SSR, fulfilled the 1949 plan for gross production and
quantity of production on 20 August, Quarry workers produced 5,360 cubic
meters of tuff, 13,350 cubic meters of sand, and a large quantity of other
building materials above the year play
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50X1-HUM
1'.-month plan for tuff quarrying, During October 1949, 1,000 cubic meters
of tuff were cut above plen. Quarry workers pledged to fulfill the year
Enormous reserves of dark red and rose-colored tuff have been found on
e`r Only very f-v enterprises produce bricks; tiles, and pottery. (10)
Tyti mien' Oblast is constantly growing, but the local industry and industrial
coop?ratives have done little to organize production of cementing materials,
Tyumen' Oblast is rich in mineral deposits of building materials, in-
cluding quartz sand which is suitable for glass production, plastic clay,
Tyumen' Oblast, RSFSR
Western 'USSR Republics
Molodecnno Oblast, Belorussian SSR, has considerable resources of clay,
lime, chalk, and sand, which would make it possible to develop production of
various construction materials in a sufficient amount to satisfy local re-
quirements. During postwar years, a number of enterprises were built in the
oblast for the production of construction materials. However, the production
level is far from meeting the growing requirements. The disparity betveen
production and demand is increased by the failure to complete the production
plan for construction materials. For instance, the Moros'kovskiy Brick Plant,
Ministry of Construction Materials Industry Delorussian SSR, completed only
54 percent of the plan. Local industry enterprises also fell considerably
eh(--t of fulfilling the production plan for hri :lcc and lime. Tile production
has not been organized at all. (11)
The Moldavian SSR also has a number of limestone deposits. The Rybnitsa
Lime Plant fulfilled the 1949 year plan in Octcber; the plant had quarried
3,067 tons of stone and produced 1,122 tuns of lime above plan by that time.
The Kishinev Quarry Administration, the Meteutsskiy Lime Plant, the iiraapol'
Gravel Pits, and other enterprises fulfilled their year plans ahead of
schedule. During a 9-month period, these enterprises produced 2 million
rubles' worth of building materials above plan, (12)
The "Saureshi-Salaspils" Gypsum Quarr-1, Latvian SSR, was awarded an All-
Union prize by the Ministry of Construction Materials Industry USSR for
meeting the second-quarter plan 198 percent, decreasing gypsum costs 22 per-
cent, and releasing more than 120,000 rubles of state funds. (13)
The Nigozern schists in the Karelo-Finnish SSR provide an excellent
construction and facing material. A geological prospecting party of the
Ministry of Construction Materials Industry USSR was sent to the location
of these quarries in 1948. It has been found that the schists are easily
processed and can be used in the production of window sills, railings,
plinths, and facing blocks. In a powdered form this material is used for
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the production of phonograph records. By adding this powder to the mixture
used in producing records, their acoustic quality has been improved. Several
schist deposits of various colors have been discovered in the Kondopoga
Until now, Shokaha porphyry from the Karelo-Finnish SSR has been known
in the Soviet Union and abroad only as a decorative building stone. Stone-
cutters of the Shoksha deposits have recently begun to use porphyry for in-
dustrial purposes, such as the production of millstones for grinding various
substances, and parts of ball mills, cement plants, and enamelva-e work-
shops. (15)
Kazakh SSR Trains and Hires Fuerts
The Union Central-Asian Geophysical Trust, Ministry of Geology USSR,
is enrolling students in 3-month courses for technical engineers of
geophysical expeditions. Persons with higher education, incomplete higher
and secondary-school education, are eligible. Applicants must pats exami-
nations in physics, mathematics, and Russian language, within a secondary-
school program. Successful students are granted a stipend of 260 rubles
per month. Classes begin on 26 November 1949. Applications must be sent
to Alma-Ata, ulitsa Furmanova 110, Personnel Department. (17)
The following workers are needed in the North for contract work: mining
engineers and technicians, incliJding production engineers, surveyors, con-
centrating plant operators, blasters, drillers, electrical engineers, geolo-
gists; mineralogists, hydrologists, topographers, meteorologists, chemical
engineers, heat engineers, mechanical engineers, hyd-otechnicai. engineers,
electric-wire commimirations technicians, postal workers, economic engineers
and technicians, chief and senior accountants, pharmaceutists; and automo-
bile drivers with practical experience of at least 3 years. For details of
employment apply to Alma-Ate, ulitsa Kali.aina 87. (18)
1. Promyshlennost' Stroitel'nykh Materialov, No 35, 26 Aug 49
2. Vechernyaya Moskva, No 215, 9 Sep 49
3. Moskovskiy Bolshevik, No 200, 25 Aug 49
4. Pravda Ukrainy, No 270, 17 Nov 49
5, Zarya Vostoka, No 227, 19 Nov 49
6. Izvestiya, No 211, 7 Sep 49
Kommuniet, No 259, 2 Nov 49
a .,60 9
v. a vu
iuuu.~l ot, Nu LVV, ) A'IVV `+7
- 4 -
SECRET
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9. Kometunist, No 235, 1 Nov 49
10. Prorehlennost' Stroitel'nykh Materialov, No 36, 2 Sep 49
11. Sovetskaya Belorussiya, no 228, 18 Nov 49
12. Sovetskaya Moldaviya, No 213, 22 Oct 49
13. Sovetskaya Latviya, No 201, 26 Aug 49.
14. Izvestija, No 269, 15 Nov 49
15. xoskovski; Brl'shevik, No 2'r2, 19 Nov 49
16. Moskovskiy Bol'shevik, No 229, 28 Sep 49
17. Kazakhstanekaye Pravda, No 224, 16 Nov 49
18. Kazakhstanekaya Pravda, No 205, 19 Oct 49
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