COAL DEPOSITS IN USSR AND EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000400200005-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 30, 2003
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: March 12, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2003/08/06 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000400200005-9
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 25)4
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY USSR/Poland/Austria/Yugoslavia
SUBJECT Coal Deposits in USSR and Eastern Europe
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M OCMNT COM IA INt IMIO NYATIOM AIBECTIMO TMF NATI OMAL D[IENS[
IE UNEVEN STATEN WITMIY THE SEAN IN.CI TITLE IN SECTIONS 157
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CATION 01 ITS CON TENTS TO OO O[OE IIT IY AN UNAU TMONII[D IENtON II
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
One of the largest deposits of coal in eastern Europe is in the Donets
Basin of the Ukraine in the USSR. This basin covers an area of eppron--
imately 23 thousand square kilometers. The coal is located at an aver-
age of 146 meters below the surface. There are 135 different strata,
each about three-fourths of a meter thick, which is a disadvantage in
mining operations. The total reserves in the area have been reliably
stated to be 90 billion long tons. This will prove to be even greater
if and when an accurate investigation of the northwest area in the
direction of Kharkov, Poltava and Lubny is completed. Suppositions '_ ve
been made from time to time that the Carboniferous formations of the
southwestern part of Volynia in the western Ukraine have a connection
with the same deposits of the Donets Basin. Traces of coal were found
in the Volynia area in drillings made in the localities of Parchacz /11i-Purkhach?
:(Sbevchenkovof near Sokol, Ki liv near 3usk and Zadvirya.
2. The western part of the Donets Basin is very rich in low-ash bit.u inouoo
and the excellent steam and coking coals that are widely used in
metallurgy. In the eastern part of the Basin there are large deposits
of non-coking anthracite and siupex?-bituminous coals. The western
Ukraine has, therefore, become a highly industrialized metallurgical
area, especially in the western part of the Donets Basin In the area
of Jusivka, +akeycvka, Stilly and Luha ns:ce ic?:I gans}c?.. where t'~t i t.1 .r?.;!ous
coal is exploited and where the transportation of the iron ore from tb r:.jion
of Krivoi Rog in the loce,J ity ot` the ingUets River and manganese a .?
the region W. N3klnol oon the banks of tht. Dnepr liver is comparative.v
easy. Zaporczhe, and. Dnepropetrovsk become ni,_;hly developed metallur c.al
centers because of the.nearness of the iron ores in the Krivoi Rog section.,
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL
..DJ$TRIBUTION
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manganese ores from Nikcpol and. the rich deposits of coal nearby.
3. The coal from the Donets Basin is of a highly calorific quality. The plants
deposited on the bottom of the Carboniferous Sea during the folding and
faulting of t i's`'region in the Hercynian phase were highly carbonized. The
plants deposited in the Lower Carboniferous Sea in the Moscow Basin, where
folding faulting and igneous intrusions were lacking, developed into
bituminous and lignitic coals. For this reason, the metallurgical industry
around. Moscow must depend upon coals brought from the Donets Basin and the
Urals.
4. Besides the bituminous and anthracite coals located in the Ukraine, brown
coal is also found there. This coal is used for local fuels and in small
industries. The brown coal. deposits are located in the following regions:
a) south of ,iev around the localities of Koterynopil, Jurkivka and
Zuravka; ..,.
b) near Jelysavet (Kirove) in the localities of Balativka and Katerynivka;
c) southwest of Aleksandriya in the localities of Marto Ivanivrka,
Korostivka, Semenivka and Zelenok;
c) near Krivoi Rog in the localities of Saksahan, Weselo-Ternivk
and Heylivka;
.In the western Ukraine there are deposits in the region of Kremenets in the
localities of
a) Zolochev, namely Jaseniv, Pidhirci near Oleako, Buda Trostianecka
and Kozaky;
b)'in the Rostotchia Hills area near the town of Zolkva in the local-
ities of Hlynsko, Skaryava Nova, Mokrotyn, Fijna-MaJdan, Polansky:L
and Hutysko;
near the town of Rave. Ruska in the localities of Potylych,.Monastyrok
and Dubrivka and
d) in the region of Kolomya in the localities of Novo Selycia, Dzuriv
and Myshyn.
The brown coal of the Ukraine is of the Tertiary formation and has only local
importance, ;uo,~ only because of the small toi,al of the deposits (518 millior
metric tons), but also due to the fact that its calorific value is low
(3500-5500). Brown coal from these areas has a high percentage of ashes, l8-45%,
a moisture content of 17-38% and. a sulphur content of 2-8%.. The annual pro-
duction of brown coal in 1939 was approximatt1y 400 thousand metric tons.
In the region between the rivers of northern Dvina and: Mezen, east of
Archangel>k, in the lower. part of the Pechor~iRiver forming the Lunyevsky
and Kizel basins and in the Gubakhinsky Basin on the western slopes of the
Ural. Mountains east from the upper reaches of the-Pechora, River are bituminous
deposits of a high calorific value. The plant sediments from which this
opal was formed underwent strong ^arb;)nizatian during ,the formation of the
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Ural and Taman mountains. On the eastern slopes of the Urals both bituminous
and lignite 'deposits have been found., as well as some anthracite -near Nizhni-r
Tagil and other areas which went through the mountain building period. In
the KuznetskBasin are very rich hard coal deposits (semi-anthracite). The
coal is in 17 layers-with a combined thickness of about 100 feet. The
calorific value of this coal is very high. Another similar deposit is in
the Karagsihda Basin. These two basins supply coal to numerous metallur-
gical centers along the Sverdlovsk-Omsk-Novosibirsk-Krasnoyarsk railroad.
Smaller deposits are found in northern Siberia near the Angara, Lower
Tunguska and Lena rivers.
In eastern Europe are found the riwhest coal deposits of all of Europe,
namely the Upper-Silesian depasita. The coal of this region is of the
Upper-Carboniferous Age and in the southwestern portion of the deposit it
is 477 layers thick, reaching 272 meters. The eastern portion contains only
105 layers reaching a thickness of 80 meters. This coal has a very high
calorific value and forms a source of supply for the well, developed
metallurgical industry located in the region of Katowice and Dabrowa Gornicaa. Po-
land.. In Lower-Silesia are rich deposits of coking coal. This is of
the Upper Carboniferous Age' and lies about two thousand meters under the
surface.
In Austria the best coal (Gianzkehle),is located in Leoben in the Eastern
Alps. It is the main source of the metallurgical industry in Donawitz
near Leoben,'iron ore being brought in from the Erzberg area. .,The
deposits,of the fine steam and coking coal in Leoben are of the.Tertiary
Age but the movement of the mountains in this area were so strong that they
caused strong carbonization of the lignite. Brown coal is found in a few
places north of the Alps near Trimmelkam and Nussdorf, northwest from Salz-
burg. Brown coal and lignite are also located to the south of these
mountains'in. Koeflach and Firstenfeld on the Yugoslavian-fftu garian Austrian
borders. There are, incidentally, several single centers of brown coal
deposits in northwest Yugoslavia in the Croatia and Slavonia areas..
7?
1-12/735.1
4N
2-5/735.1
4N
1-12/735.1
7N
1-12/735.1
55M
1-12/735.1
17M
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Approved For Release 2003/08/06 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000400200005-9