LEZNICE URANIUM MINE, OSTROV

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80S01540R003400090010-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 14, 2012
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: November 9, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/14: CIA-RDP80S01540R003400090010-0
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 9 November 1953
NO. OF PAGES 2
50X1-HUM
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
1. About 50 or 60 truckloads of uranium ore are mined each 24 hours at'the'leznice
mine, near Ostrov (N 51/K 60). Each truck carries three quarters of a'cubic
meter, or 15 hundredweight, of ore, so the daily total is about 900 hundredweight..
2. The ore is of good quality. It is reddish in color and is called Smolka (pitch-
blende). There are also small veins of gold,?silver, tungsten and other metals
in the mine. The uranium ore in the Leznice mine is said to be the best of any
mine in the district.
3. Good-quality ore is stored in a building-at the Leznice mine and every day a Tatra
11 truck conveys it to the central plant about 10 kilometers from the Leznice minel
for further processing.
4. In the central plant the ore is ground into a fine powder and floated in water,
where the heavy-,grains' of uranium fall to the bottom.
?w
5. An instrument' called a Koroktor is used for locating ore. It is, an ordinary five-
tube radio receiver, working on a battery, which is worn on the.operatorts chest,.
The antenna .runs straight along the handle or is T-shaped. The operator keeps the
end of'the antenna near the 'ground and listens to a buzzing noise in his earphone
from which he can ascertain whether the ore is 20% or 100%. (sic). The instrument
responds even to slight traces of radioactivity, both dry and wet.
6. The shifts at the mine are from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and from
2 p.m. to 10 p.m. The most exhausting shift is the night one. Prisoners spend one
week on each shift.
7. There are two cages-running on electricity; they were made by Skoda. There are no
passenger elevators anywhere in the Jachymov Mines, and cargo elevators are used to
convey personnel. These are primitive but have not been known actually to break
down. If the electric power.is cut off, the emergency ladders along the wall of
the elevator shaft are used, but it is very exhausting to climb up by the ladders.
I iwf :ELLOrAX S2
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person Is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
SECRET/CONTROL - U. S. OFFICIALS ONLY
SECURITY INFORMATION
SUBJECT Leznice Uranium Mine, Ostrov
1 ARMY g NAVY
SECRET/CONTROL - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
AIR
I FBI
AEc
I NE Ev Ix
(Note: Washington Distribution Indicated By "X"; Field Distribution By "#".)
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/14: CIA-RDP80S01540R003400090010-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/14: CIA-RDP80S01540R003400090010-0
50X1-HUM
SECRET/CONTROL - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
8. The mine lies under the camp and has three levels, which are knout as the fifty,
the hundred and the hundred and fifty. A deeper shaft; to the 200 meter level,
is being prepared and is almost completed. The depth of the mine is constantly
being increased, and every three months one floor is built on. The galleries are
supported by wooden pit props.
9. There are two identical high-voltage transformers, built together. 'Only one at a
time is switched on; the other is in reserve. The voltage is.220,000 V. The
power wire for the mine and for the elevator is 20 mm. thick.
10. Six or eight civilians are employed in the administration offices of the mine.
They are not in personal contact with the prisoners. They keep-a card index of
the prisoners working in the mine and also do the accounts., The mining-officials
have their own office in'the same building; there are about nine of these officials.
Comment: Possibly a reference to the Technical Control. Department
e en echnicke_kontroly), at Jachymov, which is about 10 kilometers from
Ostrow.:>:
50X1-HUM
SECRET/CONTROL - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/14: CIA-RDP80SO154OR003400090010-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/14: CIA-RDP80S01540R003400090010-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/14: CIA-RDP80S01540R003400090010-0