URANIUM ORE MINING NEAR SCHNEEBERG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80S01540R006600040011-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 26, 2013
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: April 28, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION R CD NO.
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE OF
INFO.
East Germany
Uranium Ore .ning near Schneeber
TVIS DOCinsEmi CORY/9M INFORMATION AFFECTIP14 ran NATIONAI. REMISE
OF THE MUTED STATIO. WITHER TRE VIANING OP TITLE 10. SECTIONS 7.03
END 704. OF TIM U. S. CODE. U AREEDEV. ITS ISENSIIISSION 08 ESVEL.
ATR OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECIIIY: EY AN UNARM:OZER 'PERSOR
IS PRORISITED 5L LIS TS uPwoovcriom OF TNIS FORM IS PRORISITEO.
DATE D/STR. 28 April 1955
NO. OF PAGES 6
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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1. Object No 9 had some mines in the Schneeberg urea, but most of the mines
controlled by it were located between the Oberschlema railroad station
and the Mulde River. Minor quantities of uranium ore were still produced
by the "Sieben-Schlehen"Mine, the "Beust" Mine and Mine No 76 in Schneeberg.
Minos Nos 9 and 25 were deactivated in the spring of 1955. Mines under control
of Object No 9 between Oberschlema and the Wilde River included Mines Nos
13a, 38, 64, 136, 166, 217, 312 in addition to two unidentified mines
immediately east of Mine No 166.
2, Object No 11 in .charge of mine construction work served both Object No 9
and Object No 2 which adjoined the area of Object No 9 to the west. Object
No 2 included Mines 6 or 6a, 7, 15, 27, 65, 66, 67, the "Stalin" Mine
in addition to five unidentifi d mines. The Mines of Object No 9 and Object
No 2 sent their ore to the ore processing plats at the "Blaufarbenwerk"
(smalthouse) and Bruenlasberg..
Object No 9 had its headquarters in Aue and was directly subordinate to the
Nismut AG Administration in Chemnitz. Prior to September 1955, Soviet
Engineer Zemikoff (fnu) was chief of Object No 9. Department No 8 in charge
of ore production was headed by Soviet Engineer Kushevski (fnu). Kornovallov
(fnu) was the Soviet chief geologist. Object No 9 included the following
departments:
Work Norms Department,
Geological Department,
Dapartment No 6
Political Department
CLASSIFICATION
STATE: ; 1112,VY 41 X riSRB
ARMY :c AIR X FBI
Soviet chief
1S II
4/ If
111II
DlEaMBUTON
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Pay Office
Safety Department
Mine Ventilation
Department
Finance Department
Personnel Department
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German chief
If
IT
4. Mine No 13 was located about 150 meters east of the Oberschlema
railroad station and about 100 meters south of the Schneeberg-
Niederschlema highway. In 1953, a new mine which was allegedly
called Mine No 13a was opened some 100 meters southeast of Mine
No 13. Mine No 312 was located 600 to 700 meters north of Mine No 13.
In the fall of 1953, the name of the German mine supervisor was Gerhard
Opitz, a business clerk by profession.
The name of
the German chief geologist was Hartmut Bader,
an assistant civil eneineer be profession
A total of 7
geologists were attached to Mine No 13. The German mine surveyer was
Helmut Voss,
Voss attended a course at the Freiberg Academy of Mining. A total of
seven Gertan. assitent mine eurveyers belonged to Mine. No 13. In charge
of work norms was Hans Sander a business
clerk by profession Sander was a
?nominal SED member. The mine had seven clerks who were in charge of
work norms and calculated the performance wages of workers. The
German chief of the Department No 8 which was in charge of ore
production was one Hamory (fnu) The German mine
foreman controlled the seven foreman of mine districts (Reviersteiger)
under whomworked 24 to 26 assistant foremen (Steiger) and 14 to 16
auxiliary foremen (Hilfssteiger). Three blasters, three foremen in
charge of ventilation, one haulage foremen (Revierafterdersteiger)
and five.aasitant haulage foremen worked underground at each shift
while. three foremen worked above ground. Ore testing was done by
Germane under the control. of Soviet soldiers. Five sacalled radio-
metrists (ore tester) were assigned to each of the mine districts
per shift. One radiomotrist had to ee present at each working face.
After boreholes had been completed, the radiometrist had to check
the radioactivity of the ore in the holes bored. The blasting
operations had to be conducted in such a way as not to destroy ore
veins. In the summer of 1953, the safety inspector of Mine No 13 was
Hans Rain. The first SED secretary who also was an SSD confidant
was one Krause (Thu),
formerly a butcher at Zschorlau. The powder magazine was under the
control of a German but was continuously guarded by a Soviet soldier.
The Soviet soldiers observed at the mine belonged to a unit of the
regular occupation troops.
Mine No 13 had five levels, the
fifth level being at a depth of 240 meters below sea level (sic).
The individual levels were about 60 meters apart, but an intermediate
level existed between them. All galleries of the mine extended frcm
northwest to southeast. The so-called Mark?Semler Sohle which was
at a depth of 30 meters below sea level (sic) interconnected almost
all mines in the Schlema-Schneeberg area. Mining operations were
conducted by hand and no cutting machinery was available. Mine No 312
which belonged to Mine No 13 was only used as an elevator shaft for
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ore. The shaft had skip hoists for ,,V4sse and two skip hoists
for low-grade ore. Mine No 312 extended down to the fifth level.
The two elevator cages of Mine No 13 handled only boxed high-grade
ore and low-grade ore in mine cars. The low-grade ore hauled to
the surface through Shaft No 312 was Shipped to the ore testing
plant of Mine No 13, via a narrow-gauge field railroad track.
6. Most of the ore veins in Mine No 13 aerelinclined at an angle of 60 ,
to 70 degrees and normally 'ere from 1 to 4 am thick. At some places,
ore veins were found. which were three meters long and up to 30 cm thick.
In February or Maroh.1953, such an ors vein which was found in the
so-called "Sieggang" (victory vein) yielded 350 to 400 boxes of
grade 1 ore.
Most of the uranium mines in the Schneeberg-Schleaa area had to be
built through a layer of schist. Only pitchblende. was mined. At
Mine No 13, this pitchblende looked black like anthracite.
Occasionally also a dark grey uranum ore of a lesser quality was
found. During gallery boring operations in the so-called. "Sieggang",
veins of galena and nickel up to 30 cm thick were found, but
both galena and nickel were dumped unheeded.
7. Mine No 13 had a total work force of about 2,000 men. ;;ork was done in
three shifts and 380 to 400 men worked underground in each of these
shifts. Because Soviet controls were inadequate, the following
procedure was followed by the German miners; The first shirt removed
the waste. .The second shift, the night shift, loosened the uranium
ore by blasting operations, a procedure which was strictly forbidden,
and the third shift packed the. high-grade ore into boxes and hauled
it to the surface. The standing Soviet order was that uranium ore lodes
were to be picked by hand because too much valuable uranium ore was
wasted by the blasting'process.
8. From 70 to .80 boxes of grade 1 ore, 90 to 100 boxes of grade 2 ore,
and e0- boxes of grade 3 ore were produced at Mine No 13 per day. From
90 to 100 tons of low-grade ore were produced per shift in addition
to approximately 250 carloads of low-grade ore hoisted to the surface
throueh Mine No 312. :aeete was only- hauled to the surface through Mine
No 312. An estimated 1,200 to 1,300. mine carloads were removed per
shift. The output of the mine was about the same between the fall of 1952
and the fall of 1953. After 1 September 1953, Mines Nos 13, 321, and 64
were formed into one unit for hoistina purposes. All the :Itsse produced
at .rines Nos 13 and 64 were hauled to the surface through Mine No. 312;
and all low-grade ore of the two mines was hauled to the surface
through Nine No 13. The boxes of high-grade ore produced at the two minas
continued tobe handled separately. In May 1953,. the sueervisor of
Mine No 13 stated that the mine would be exhausted in about 15 years*
9. The ore which was packed in boxes was classified into grade -1, 2, and 3,
graee 1 ore being the best material. Low-grade ore was classified into
grades 3, 2# and 1, the best quality being grade 3 ore. High-grade
ore was 'peeked in , boxes below ground. Grade 3 ore which was hoisted
to the surface on mine trucks was sifted out above ground and
subsequently packed in boxes. The ore shipped in boxes was also
called "Stuff" ore by the 'Soviets. Bonuses were paid for every box or
ore. The bonuses varied from 100 to ?1.50 marks deeendine on the
percentage Of pitchblende-. Grade. 2 ore had a 20 to 50 percentage of
pitchblende -
CON2IDENTIAL
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10. A radiometrist was assigned to each working face. Tee ore mined
was coarsely sifted by the hewers themselves. In cases of doubt, the
radiometrist tested the ore by his ore testing equipment. Hiseh-grade,
ore was packed in sheet metel containers measuring 60 x 30 x 30 cm.
Full boxes weighed- at least 60 kg. The containers were locked. A
slip indicating the nunerical designation of the working face and
the mine district involved were put into the centainers. The slip
was marked by a four-digit number; the first number indicated the
mine district and the subsequent three numbers the working face.
In some cases, the level or the gallery where the ore was obtained
was also indicated. All the containers were numbered censecutively.
The radiceetrists were assigned specific numbering sequences for
the boxes filled with uranium ore at their respective working faces
The oentrol slips put into the ore containers were returned to the
mine from the Bruenlasberg ore crushing plant after the special
bonus due on each container had been recorded on the reverse side
of the slip. About 85 percent of the bonus was paid to the brigade
of hewers, the remainder to the radiometriet. The radioactivity of
the materials packed in each box was entered by the reiometrist
on special lists. Vane No 13 sent all its high-grade ore to the
3ruenlasberg ore crushing plant after it had been checked at the
ore testing plant of the mine.
11. Low-grade ore was loaded by hand on mine cars. An ore testing point
for this type of Ore was available at each level. The ore testing point
was served by two Soviet soldiers. At Mine No 13 records were kept of
the quantities of low-grade ore hauled to the surface from each mine
district through Mine No 312. Lon-,;rade ore was classified into grades 3
to 1 at an ore testing point above ground. Each mine carload was
tested 25 to 30 seconds by Soviet soldiers. Low quality ore of grade
3
was sorted from waste material by means of a T-shaped ore testing ?
device operated by German radiometrists. Ore of a higher quality
than grade 3 was paceed into boxes, the remaining ore wen to the
ore storage bunker,
12. Radiometrists working below ground used a portable uranium ore tester
fitted with a rod-like cylinder of light metal which was about 45 ?
cm long and 3 cm in diameter, This cylinder housed four tubes which
resembled radio tubes. This ore tester which was also called n$onde"
was connected by a 1,5 emeter rubber cable to a portable wooden box which
housed the battery, the various switches; and the measuring scales.
The medium,ewitch made possible the adjustment of three different
stages. The decimeter scale covered a range from 0 to 1,00. Since.
early 1952, the boxes and the tubes- of the ore testing equipment
have been sealed by lead. An ore testing device vhich used the
same box, but was Connected to a different type of Sande, was used
for control measurements and the sifting out of low-quality ore
of grade 3 above ground. This Sonde consisted of a light-metal
cylinder, 50 to 60 cir: long and about 3.5 cm in diameter. A dross tube
of the same shape as the light-metal cylinder of the first mentioned
type of ore tester was fitted at the end of this tube. The longitudinal
tube housed three large eliptical tubes, about 15 cm long and 2 to 2.5 cm
in diameter. The tubes in the 1on6itudin4 cylinder were aboutetwite
as large as those in the cross cylinder.
13. The measuring plates used in connection with the ore, testing equipment
were of the same design at all ore testing stations. These measuring
plates were fitted with radio tubes and measured 60 x 40 cm. Measuring
elates used for the checking of mine cars measured about 120 o 180 cm.
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14. Soviet Engineer Kushevski stated that the uranium ore mines in the
Aue-Schlema area produced the hest.uranium ore in the world except
for Australia. The .pitablende obtained in this area had 17 or
18 percent of It 2380. The boxes of ore were sent to Department No 8
on EIS-trucks to the Bruenlasberg ore crushing plant. Only Soviet
drivers handled this ore and.each truck was escorted by an mvp. soldier.
The ore crushing plant had no reilroed connection. The install:Aion
was guarded by MVD personnel. On ?watch towers erected in the four
corners of the fence surrounding the plant sourchlieshts.wora mounted.
The ore crushed at Bruenlasberg was packed into grey-brown- cardboard
containers, 20 to 25 am in diameter and 40 cm high. The crushed ore
was shipped toward Aue by details which consisted exclusively of
MYD personnel, It was learned that this ore was not shipped to the
Aue railroad station. The low-grade ore was shipped out from Mine
No 13 on trucks. 'These shipments were handled by German personnel.
Low quality ore of grade 3 was sent to the ore processing plant at
the Blaufarbenwerk. Low quality ore of grades 2 and 1 was dispatched
by rail to Crossen near Zwickau via. 1he Ore loading points at Aue
and Niederschlema. This information was obtained from the loading
foreman at the Aue railroad station. Before the low-quality ore of.
grades 2 and I left Mine No' 13, it was weighed on special scales
fitted with an ore testing device. This testing device was fitted
with two sliding measuring plates, whichwere pressed on the uranium
ore for eaqh measuring operation. A scale of this type was available
near Mine No 6 of Object No 2 and near the entrance of the pre washing
plant at the Blaufarbenwerk which belonged to Object No. 99.- The
trucks ehich handled low-quality ore of grade 3 were also weighed
before they were dispatched to the Blaufarbenwerk ore washing plant.
Low-quality ore Of grade 3 produced by Objects Nos 2 and 9 were subject
to wet-mill concentration at the Blaufarbenwerk ore washing.plant.
15. A prospecting point was located at the thk.d level of rine No 13. When
the borehole had reached a depth of about 70 meters, a layer of granite
was reached whhh extended to a depth of 360 meters. Below this layer of
granite there was a layer of uranium ore. The prospecting point was off
limits to German personnel. Prospecting operations which were started ?
in the summer of 1951, were supervised by Soviet geologists. In early
19524 a depth' of at least 510 meters had been reached in these drilling
operations. Another prospecting eoint of lane No 13 was 150 to 200
meters south of this mine. At this-point, the so-called "Sieggang"
appeared to approach the surface. An effort was made to determinetby
exploratory trenches 25 to 30 meters long and 150 to 200 cm deep, if
the "Sieggang" could not be exploited more easily from Che surface.
Information on such orospecting activities was first obtained about
the fall of 1952. About early 1952, the casino at tberschlema was
dismantled because five exploratory shafts were scheduled to be sunk On
the site of this building. Prospecting work there continued until
September 1953 when source left this area. Mine No 7 or Object No
2 located southeast of the Oberschlema casino, was said to be the
most productive installation of Object No 2 in the spring of 1953.
16. Ore loading installations were available at Aue and Niederschlema.
The installation at Aue was bigger than that at NiedersOelema. Ore
trucks arriving at the two installations discharged their load tinto
storage bunkers. The different grades of ore were stored separately.
Drag belts extended from the storage bunkers to the ore bins at the
railroad station. At Niederschlema, four or five gondola cars with
side walls 50 to 60 cm high, could be loaded simultaneously.. Three
discharge funnels were over each railroad car. 'The loading operation
was performed rather efficiently. Ernst Gaessner from Zschorlau,
C ONFI D14; NT'T A T.
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was in charge of ore
loadinc operations at Aue,
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