URANIUM ORE MINING IN THE JACHYMOV AREA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R004600600004-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 14, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
9 FOR ATION REPORT CD NO.
COUNTRY Czechoslovakia r NN;Tt TE DISTR. 14 APR 50,
CONFIDES 0 k 50X1-HUM
SUCJECT Uranium Ore wining in the Jachymov Area NO. OF PAGES 12
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE OF
INFO?.
Trig DOCOL7!C1t COWTAtt 0INFORaATIOMAPFECTINOTilet:ATIOMALDRFROSE
OF THE tlNiTED STATES TliTUIN THE 6EAtlIEO OR THE @OFiONAOE ACT 90
0. e. C.. It ACID 33. AS A13E0DED. ITS TRAMBMI001OH OR THE 0SWULATION
OF ITS CONT60T13 IN ANT HANNER TO AN UMAUTHORIZ@D P00002 Ia PRO.
SIGIT@U OT LAW. REPRODUCTION OF TRW FORK 19 PROHIBITED,
NO. OF ENCLS~
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
STATE
jARMY
I troductiog
majority of them
The entire Jachymov project is subdivided into a number of individual mines
or shafts, the majority of which are situated either directly in the out-
skirts of Jachymov or in the area west of Jachymov covering about 100 square
kilometers. There is one major exception to this: the Schlaekenwalde or
5lavkov shaft, also belonging to the Jachymov project, is located about 50
km. 8;v from Jachymov. Following are the names and/or locations of the shafts
these are not all the shafts there, but the
50X1-HUM
a. Bratrstvi (former name: Bruderlichkeit); Rovnost (Gleichheit); Svornost
(Linigkeit). These three shafts are roughly located in the northern and
northwestern outskirts of the town of Jachymov. Bratrstvi is about 1,500
meters from the tobacco plant (the Tabakovka, to be mentioned later) which
itself is located in the northeastern end of the city; it also is about
the same distance southeast of the keillberg, an elevation 1245 meters
high north of the city. Svornost is located on the western edge of the
northwestern end of the city, on the south side of the road leading from
Jachymov to Dresden, and almost directly opposite a high-towered church.
Rovnost is not quite 2,000 meters southwest of Svornost.
50X1-HUM 50X1-HUM
b. Other shafts are: ::duard; Elias; Irene. These three shafts are located
in a wooded area vest of the city on the east side of a forest path which
goes from the town. of i3ozi Dar (Gottesgab) and. leads into the wooded area
in a roughly southern direction. This path, which in February 1949 was being
improved, bisects the angle formed by the roads from Abortham to Gottesgab
and from Gottesgab to Jachymov. The northermost of these three shafts is
Eduard, which is under constructiono Jachyymov (February
1949) [shad a depth of only 70 meters, but it is scheduled to become the
main and central shaft of the entire Jachymov project, with underground con-
nections to all other shafts except 8lavkov. On the vest side of the forest
path, almost directly opposite, though slightly to the southwest of Eduard,
is a deep boring; named Hildebrand, reaching a depth of 400 meters, Attempts
to locate ore in this boring have'had unsatisfactory results. -South of
Eduard on the east side of the forest path is Elias, and about 100 meters
farther to the south, on the s~. a side of the path, is Irene. Although
they are individual and separate shafts, Elias and Irene must be considered
NSRS
FBI
This document is hereby regraded to
CONFIDENTIAL in accordance with the
,letter of 13 OctoLer 1978 from the
Director of Central intelligence to the
Archivist of the United States.
Next Review Date: 2008
De
No
hang
noel
Chan
Auth.: HR 7
date: ?kd~
Lo
FIDE
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C :IvT2thL III^as,LLIG ;I?C;; iG.;;:~C;?
2
side about I km south of the Upravna, is a sr.._li shaft
to;,ether for more than one reason, as will be seen below. Also belong-
ing to the alias-Irene complex is the Upravna, an ore-;washing plant,,
situated about 1 km south of Irene on the western side of the path. The
i.lias4Srene.Upravna complex covers an area of about 1 square km and is50X1-HUM
about 14. km due west of Jachymov. Farther down the path, on the west
ductive,
this shaft was considered pro-
c? Other shafts are: Breitenba.ch, near the town of the same name; Seify. 50X1-HUM
(5oifen), near the town of the same name; Abertham, near the town of the
same name, and the above-mentioned Slavkov (Fichlackcntvalde), On the 50X1-HUM
north side of the Abortha Gottesgab road abou~ one-third of the ray from
Ab ;rtham, there is a shaft About,
2 km south of Jachymov on the Jachymoy ustrov road, there -is another shaft
50X1-HUM
d, In addition to the shafts mentioned and the vertical Hildebrand boring.,
'there are a number of galleries bored into hillsides whore orosoecting, 50X1 -HUM
hea rs i,racn v rsv.. , -4 +1? .e_ ..u...R ... ,.. __ .,.., s _
--- -__ ...,_.. ..-- ,. +.., c....aa.M E5vu
after 1945. If a straight line is drawn between Bratrstvi and :,vcrnost
(connecting the two northern ends of the city), one of these galleries lies
slightly to the northwest of a middle point on this line. Another gallery
lies at the southern edge of the city, west of the road leading to Oatrov
and immediately south of the Radius Palast, ;.eat of the above-mentioned
forest path, between the town of Gottesgab and the Hildebrand boring,
there is another gallery,, There is one more south of the Upr g and north
of the afore-mentioned small shaft of unknown name, just vest of the farest
WIVA %,V OUAI-I-IUIVI
south of the Icttesgab--Dresden road and opposite the Jaehymov church,
The shaft frame (Forderturm) in the hauling, plant has a height of about
30 meters; it operates two hauling cages of a height of 11 meters eacht,
The cages are of iron construction and run in wooden guide rails. The.
cages are sus..3ended on a steel hoisting cable which has a diameter of 38
millimeters. They are operated by an electric winch located in the machine
shop. Each hauling calve has three stories, of which the two lower stories
are for transporting crews and hauling ore, while the upper story is ex--
elusively for haulin;, dead rock. The shaft frame is constructed over a
hauling track leading to the :.vornost rock heap, about 1 km north-east
of the shaft? The trains on this hauling track are operated by both
Diesel and electric locomotives.
Along the south side of the hauling plant runs the main road of the
Svornost area which joins the Gottesgab-Dresden road to the west,
Across this read, opposite the hauling, plant, is the Svornost machine shopv
which has been rebuilt from an older one; rebuilding was completed in
the fall of 19/+8. It new consists of 5 parts: a generator room, the
machine proper, a compressor room,, a transformer room,. and a room containing
sanitary installations with an ore collar underneath it, The transformtor
room (in the northwest corner of the 'auilding) contains 5 transformer cells
rrri t-u vim., oi.t. transformer each. or ttlryr;e 7 tr artsrormer a, two are or oUv tt vas, one L9
of 500 KIM and th
th
e o
er two are undetermined? The electric power arriv.
i A_; at the trna sfoxiier room comes from a power cable carrying 22,000 V
and servicing the entire Jachymov mining area;, It has been rumored among
a san64 Oyv crews that tli'g oovj
er comas from the soviet zone in Germany
The haulin
in
h
g w
c
tor the cages, op-
crated by a. direct current
compressor roam has two nress- is in t e machine room proper. The
cemraressors of 6 atm, each, producing compressed
air for neums:.ta.,c air drills .mad dredges which rims underground in seam-
loss steel tubes. each five to eight meters in lengt , which are flanged
together,,
the vorn ost area is located just outside J
50X1-HUM
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cn To the east of the machine shop are: (1) the Svornost workshop,, contain
ng a fore., a turner's shops and an electrical workroom on the first
:'loor., and a tinsmith's vorkroom. a joinery,, and a dispensary on the
second floor: (2) a house used partly as residence for nine foremen and
partly as offices for Russian members of the Svornost administration;
(3) the residence of the Director General of the entire Jachymov min-
ing project (a Czech of Slovak origin
(4) an office building for Czech members of the Svornost administration;
(5) a warehouse for storing tools., tubes, rails, cement, lumber n+^-
50X1-HUM
d. In.the southwest corner of the 3vornost area is the camp for Garin Phi's,,
which is fenced In with barbed wire ands being located on a hill., has
a fenced-yin stair path (151 steps) leading to the entrance of the shaft.
ou The -whole Svornost area is fenced ins on its northern side with a three-
meter wooden fence topped by barbed wire, on its southern side by a barbed
wire for-cc. There are two guarded entrances l=ttod on the main mine road
inside the .fence.
f o The main mine road leads eastward to M riasorge. where housing for
Svornost miners was under construction in Fobru ,r 1949, in an area of
about one and a half square kri.lometers.
., At the Svornost rock heap, which is outside the fenced-in area, there is
a charging station for the batteries of the electric locomotives operating
the hauling track between the shaft and the rock heap?
h. The Svornost shaft has P. depth of 556 meters (the shafts which was origin-
ally deeper, had to be closed with concrete at this depth because of the
existence of an underground source of water below that level). The shaft
has twelve levels from which seams extend in all directions.
1) The first two levels, the Tagosstollen, at a depth of about 30 meters,
and Nepomuk, a little lowers are dead levels not in use,.
, ? ,M
0X1
The next level, Barbara,. at about 100 m. depth, is rich in ore?
3) Then follow Daniel at about 200 m, depth with good do-posits, and
T3tollc.rt at about 250 ri, also with good deposits, At Daniel there
is en old connection with the Shovnost shaft, not in use now, . In
Barbara. Daniels and Stoilorts only a little shootin and blasting
iy, ue4.n ; done, slice most of the ore coning from t..ere is waste
{ .: ~.ers.s left behind when the shaft was previously exploited for
other than pitchblende ore.
about 300 m. is the Second Level. with poor deposits? (Note:
" the desi~ ati on "second Level" a and the following "Fifth". does
=:aot correspond to the actual succession of levels but is neverthloss
cor rect. )
5) ; ext i.s the Fifth Level at about 350 in, with good deposits? The
Second and the Fifth Levels are vertically connected by a number
of chimneys throu.-h which dead rock is dropped, collected on the
Fifth Level and from there carried by hand to a bin extending
vii ticaiy from the F if th to the next, Sevenths Level from which
it is removed.,
6G The Seventh Level at about 400 in serves only this purpose; no
digging is done there.
sit the.:{ ifth Level a co.tmectin ; ~m ssare to Bratrstvi is under con
ya W~zc n February 1949 it r as estimated that its completion
,scold take one more ye p
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O I TRAI(11ITLI.1I G11,41 GL, I G _I CY 50X1-HUM
8) Tr en there is the Eighth Level at about 450 in with rich de-oosits
cone of the rock on the Eighth Level is extrarno1y hard" so that
special drills, so-called "di. Lance drills", have to be used.
They have cutters of 40 mm, diameter of varying lengths permitting
borings as deep as 50 m, and are made of special steels, From the
Eighth Level a number of chimneys lead to the Tenth Level for the
purpose of dropping dead rock, From there the dead rock is carried
to a bin extend ng vertically frori the Tenth to the Eleventh Level.,
where it is coUected and removed,
9) The Tenth Level *,t about 500 m? has good deposits, but the Elavew Ia
Level, like the ::seventh, serves .?.nly for the removal of waste and
has, no diggi.n .,
10) The last levels called Two:' t ,,,has rich deposits,, A sms?:l haul-
ing installation, runs between -;he Twelfth and Tenth Levels rand the
bin there so that rook can be iauled into the bin and removed on
the Eleventh Lo'iel.,, A conneciing passar;e from the Twelfth Level to
Bratrstvi is unier construction,, It is estiria ;ed that its completion
will take as much time as thy. ; of the corresponding passage on the
Fifth Level (ai.ove),, The reajan for the attempts to connect Bratrstvi
with Svornos t is that the rock. heaps et Bratrstvi are nearly filled
and the two co:znecting missages under construction gill be for the
transportation ol. dead rock from Iratrstvi to !~vornost and the good
'anlinr i_nstals,al ions of Svornost may ale:. teen be used for Bratrstvi,
he Twelfth Level also has a connection ,vit'p Ro *.nost, about L7 km
iri length rshich, though stemroin' from earlier f -me Li is now in operation
acid is being used to transport lead rock from ' , avnost to the hauling
iaastallati~ans of .vornost0 The hauling is dor. in trains pulled by
olcctrio looomotivas pulling twe:aty to twentyrfiye mine cars (iIundcal
50X1-HUM
i., ufiost of the rnech?ana; cal and electric equipment inside the shaft is con .
t:entrat.eed on the Twelfth Level? In addition to the Twelfth Level equip
meat (i entioned be :cry:!) there is a t),ain of mine cars on the aelfth
Level ptttled by a Diesel locomotive over a stretch of 700 to 800 meters,
and there are two snail conveyor bolts on the Seveeth and Eleventh Levels
(one at a'a.ah) servi cinr; the bins t,srminati ig there? On. the .twelfth Level
ti~aere is a:a electric switch statica which Ls fed from the transformer
ZOOM in the machine shop above ground, Tre switch station serves the
electric li~,%t system,, the pump ? rstorm, to above-mentioned small hauling
installation from the Twelfth to the Ten bovel,srid two big vonti.l.ators
in operation s::.nce February 194c (on the .)ther floors there are small
ventilators) The switch station is corn acted ?r,o the transformer room
above ground by to cables each having thee conductors 310 mm square
and one conddudter 190 nn squarri and carry Cn , alternating current of 380
V, 500 ampe ?e.s, and by another cable havi: g four conductors 80 ram ;square
carrying alternating current . f 3000 V, 3 Amp, for one of the pumps
mentioned below. Two more cables each having one conductor 400 mm square
and carrying- direct current cf 80 V, 40C arnp0 lead down from th : trans
7
former room to the Twelfth Leval without passing through the "witch
station; they serves the electr . s trains operating between Svornost and
Rovnost,, Thaer; iz e,. furthermor;a, a si a.c1 cable servin, ? the signal installa-
6 ons c-: t the loa.ai:, - tiou or. the il.ulviauai levels, This
electric si ll s r parr was not yet f xa:.shed 50X1-HUM
in February 1949 bb,it is probab'y finis led by note, 1 e former
signal system cons:L seed of mechanical installations operated by
ropes? There is a:3 so a. telep lone cab'_e for telephone connections
between the Tuelftla sevel anc. all ot?? ;r levels and above ground and
between the in.dividu .l_ l evol s,, All ~.hese cables, with the exception
of the abov a-mantioxe 3000 V cable;, were newly ita ztalled or rebuilt
during the ';,,inter of :t948/49.. The eJ e~ctric light system inside the
shaft is rather poor with the exception of the q,,?ston on the Twelfth
Level, which is more extensi?1e, tin B arbara, Daniel m Stollor.?t and the
Second Levels there is only one electric light at the filling, stations
of these levels and beyond that there are no lamps,. There are several
lights at the bins on the Fifth argd j ,,nth Levels,, and several on the
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iT
c":ad`"I;~'+I. Ii T T IU'l~C .U : CY 50X1-HUM
Sevenths l;ighth, and eleventh Levels. The electric light current
branches off from the 380 V cable and passes throuf-h Cllr 21 ampere
transformers installed on the individual levels., cinere it is trans'.
formed into 24 V,, 48 V, and also 220 V (in spite of the fact that use
of 220 V light current is prohibited in mines). The pumping system
on the Twelfth Level consists of four pumps, trio of which were installed
during the winter of 1947/48 after the shaft was inundated up to the
Tenth floor as a result of the melting; of heavy sncv. All pumps are
operated by three-phase alternating current. The trio pumps which were
there before the wwistor of 1947/48 are a stamp water pump for accumulated
water ana a ru uum waxer pwup. i son or Ttnem is auto to pump about 1,000
liters of water per minute up to the level of Daniel (i.e. a height of
about 250 m.), and from there it runs through pipes outside the shaft,
The radium water is led into the city of Jachymov. The capacity of 1,000
liters per minute is attempted only during inundations; normally there
is only radium water from a scurce on the Twelfth floor, of which an
averag? 60 liters per minute is pumped to Daniel, in addition to some
sump water from time to time. The sump ratter pump is driven by a motor
of 380 V, 230 amp; the radium water pump by a high-speed Sehorech motor
of 3,000 V, 230 amp. and 1,800 to 1,900 revolutions per minute. The
two pumps, newly installed in the winter of 1947/48, are driven by CKD
motors (Ceskonmoravska Kolben-Danek) of 380 V, 150 amps. These two pumps
are mounted in a serial nump connection, one sucking the other forcing
the tiof t.4r te, f)nni.el and from thnrR ontraick ..
Svornost is work; in three d-lifts of eight hours each, On the average
the area composing one underground shift consists of 120 PV=s and 150 ,
civilians, mostly Czechs with cone ilusc ans and Germans among them,
Of these 270 men per shift about 55 arc actual havers in the proportion
of 15 PVdas to 4.0 civilians. No women are working underground (with the
exception of geologists or radiometric workers to mentioned later.~
but about 20 t o 25 women per shift work above ; ,undo
k. At the end of an old and the beginning of a new shift, the hauling. in-
stallation transports the crews; i.e. it hauls out the old crew and.,
at the same time, lancers in the new one in the double-cage hauling
elevators. In one run six craw members can be carried in each of the
two lover stories of each hauling cage which, when transporting crews,
runs at an average steed of 6 m per second. Immediately after the
crews are trans narted, the hauling,. out of dead rock begins, last ng an
average of six hours per shift. Tho dead rock is hauled in the upper-
most story of the hauling cage which on this occasion runs at a speed
of 10 n per second. Then powder and blasting rt.torial are delivered
to the individual levels from the Twelfth Level" where the explosives
dump is locaztad, This matorial is transported in the crew stories
of the hauling ca-,e; no ordinary crew members are allowed to accompany
such transports exce_rt head hewers and shift loaders. The blasting
powder called Donarit is carried in bores of 25 Kg. An average varying
from 2 to 4,5 of these boxes per shift is hauled and used. The last
activity of tie hauling instaallz:~tion at the end of a shift is transport-
ing ore.
a representative of the average over a longer period. In February 50X1 -HUM
1949, the average svorro t yield of ore was 100 buckets per shift, a
bucket carrying from 20 to 50 kg of ores, according to its specific
weight. The folloviliv. circumstances must be then into consideration
in order to a .-rive at a reasonable appreciation of the yield figures s
1) The abova.mentioned figure for the Svornost yield of dead rock per
shift includes the yield of dead rock coming i rors hovnost through
the Twelfth Level cornocting passage between the two shafts. The
electric trains between Rovnost and Svornost carry an average of
the followi.n, February 1949 yield of ore may be considered reason-
Svornost yield of ore because it varies greatly
1^ The Svornost =yield of dead rock and ore is as folla,7s. Yield of dead
bock,, though varying, can be set at an average 600 tons per eight-hour
shift., transported by 200 runs of the cage carrying three tons each
time,, After arriving above ground the dead rock is emptied into bins
and from there into tilting carts. Transfer of the rodk from the bins 50X1-HUM
to the carts is done by throe persons operating hand levers. The rock
is then carried in trains noeiored by electric or Diesel engines to the
Svornost rock heap (aabou?t i Icra.. distance). It is hard to fix the
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150 to 200 mine cars nor shift. These cars have a capacity
of 0,75 cu. meters, each taking about 1500 to 2000 pounds
of dead rock if filled up and if the rock is wet, as is the ease
in both shafts,, This means that the 1icvnost share in the
Svornost yield of dead rock constitutes am:.ximum of 200 tons
per shift, leavin,j the Svorncst yield proper at about 400 tons
per shift. However, the Rovnost figure does not represent its
entire shift yield because Rovnost also has a hauling installation
of its own,
2) The daily output of dead rock as well as ore is not arrived. at by
multiplyin;-, by three the yield figure per shift for the following
reason: One of the three eight-hour shifts is almost exclusively
for the transportation of material from above ground into the
shaft (an operation called 'a.terialsteckung),, such as lumbers iron,,
explosives,, tools, etc. This is done mostly during the night
shift. Only in emergency cases, e.g. if too much material has
been accumulated within the shaft, will the third shift or part
of it be used for 1muling-out operations. This fixes the daily
Svornost yield of dead rock, including the Rovnost share, at an
average of 1,200 to a maximum of 1,500 tons. The corresponding
daily figure for ore yield is 200 buckets, representing an average
of from 4,000 to a uwdmam of 10,000 kg per day. In regard to
monthly output it must be taken in consideration that the number
of holidays Urant4ad to Jachymov workers is less than the normal
rule, and this goes not only for Bits but also for civilian
-workers. iolthou?h at least two work-free Sundays per month are
granted to them on paper, this rule is not adhered to in practice;
frequently there is only one holiday per month, although other
main holdlay s such as :.:aster, Christmas, iiew Year are usually ob-
served. The average work-month is therefore longer in Jachymov
than is the rule; it can be set at 28 to 29 days, making an average
work-year of roughly 335 to 345 days. Vacations do not influence
the work time because a worker going on leave (or falling sick)
will be replaced by another one,
3) The above-mentioned yield figure for ore of 100 buckets per shift
is a good average; i.e. it is reached only after the yield has
been high over a relatively long period of shifts.
4) Part of the yielded ere is streaked with dead rock and goes as
such into the ore buckets.
in. The ore mined at,vornost is pitchblende ore; nothing; else is mimed
there and there are no ter--products. The Svornost ore occurs in two
main qualities:
1) A very har(A, very black quality which is found mainly in the
loner Svornost levels from the Second Level on downs but also occurs
in smaller quantities in the upper levels, it looks like very
black coal.. Because of its hardness it does not react when scraped
with metal, Hewers and Russian control personnel frequently test
black material found there by scraping it with metal; if, after
the scraping, a white trace appears, it is thrown with the dead 50X1-HUM
rook; if no trace appears, it is considered to be good ore. The
harder this kind of ore is, the better its quality.
Pieces of this hard ore of average fist size have been frequently
estimated by the miners to weigh 700 to 800 ,.Trams (European),
2) The ore mainly found on Barbara, Daniel and Stollort Levels is of
much softer quality, often loamy and crumbly. It is also a black
color but usually interspersed with yellow streaks. This ore too
is considered to be good quality, though not as good as the other- 50X1 -HUM
The ore throughout Svornost occurs in veins with thicknesses varying
from the thickness of a postcard to about three centimeters,
greater thickness have occasionally been found there; the maximum thick-
ness have occasionally boon found there; the maximum thickness was In-
dicated by such miners as having been 30 cm, The veins very seldom
run in a horizontal direction; they are most frequently imbedded
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7a
obliquely (dia,;onally), less frequently in vortical positions?
n? First picking or oortin. - of th? ore takes place L.t the spot nhere
it is found before it is put into the ore buckets? This rough
sorting serves the purpose of separating it from dead rock? After
the ore is put into the buckets, the name of the hewer and the place
where it was found are inscribed with chalk on the buckets and it is
hauled above ground. The buckets are carried by hand from the haul-
ing cage to the ore cellar in the machine shop, where the second
sorting takes place. This sorting is done b7 7a crew usually consist-
7n, of 10 women and 3 i`',e's or civilians. It is done by a e, and the
ore is separated into three categories (good, medium, bad). The graded
ore is then packed into wooden boxes 30 by 30 by 30 centimeters with
the grade stamped on them, loaded on ten-ton Tatra trucks, and trans-
ported to Bratrstvi? All ore obtained in the entire Jachymov project,
including ore coming; frcm the washeries described below, goes to
Bratrstvi for final sorting in a central sorting plant and for shiupini.
(There is one possible exception to this
The final
sorting at ratrstvi is done by sorting apparatus
After the final sorting, the ore is emptied into
each pail is inscribed with a letter and a number, the letter indicating
the final determination of quality and the number being a serial
number. After a sufficient quantity of pails is accumulated at Bratrstvi,
they are loaded, on Tatra trunks and hauled (always by truck, never by
train) to Ostrov, From Ostrov the ore goes by freight trains to Brest-
Litovsk .There it is reloaded on Russian-gauge trains. That the ore
or at least part of it) boos to Brest-Litovsk is common knowled'e
cylindrical tin pails of about 30 cm diameter and about 30 cm height:
in Jachymov
ps;d ' s were ordered
to help in reloadins- of a train as described above. They inadvertently
broke one of the pails (which are welded) and found that it contained
the ore which they met again in Jachymov not long afterward. The kind
of inscriptions on the pails as also the same.
a. The instrument used by the hevrer is a compiles ;ed-air drilling machine
with a body (machine) length of about 80 cm, Cutter rods with lengths
varying between one and three meters, all having the same diameter of
40 mm, can be inserted into it. The machine has a support which can
be regulated by air? pressure to prevent sagging when the drill is
brought into an elevated position. The cutter rods are made of tjidia
steel (stands for UWie Uiamant" meaning hard as diamond", a tungsten-
carbide fabricated by Krupp). Drilling at Svornost is wet drilling,
rater is led into the cutter which washes out the drill mud. Air
pressure applied in, 6 a`in, it addition to this standard Knstrument,
there is the distance drill to be used for ver hard rock. as mer.
above; it is made of a special steel
Motors used at Svo?anost come mostly from the Skoda and Bata works.
,lectric switches, distribution tables, and cable: are cf AEG as
well as Siemens origin. The signal installations come from CKD.
The conveyor belts used at Svornost as well as Upravna (see below)
come from Russia; the same is true of the electric battery locomotives
operating above ground. The electric locomotives working underground
are Czech machines which were originally produced for export to Russia
but v ere kept in Jachymov?
The explosive for blasting, Donarit, a yellow gelatin mass enveloped
in oil paper, is used in cartridges of about 15 cm length and a diameter
of about 38 ram, After several cartridges are inserted into the drill
hole, they are exploded tar means of a blasting cap affixed to a cartridge
in the middle of the others., end a firing- cord of black color burning
at a speed of slightly more than one cm per second.
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= ,'MUM INTiILIGI: NOL I,GUICY
Neither P,v nor civilian tiorkors have any protective clothing against
radioactivity. Rubber suits are issued to thosd workers who have to
work in particularly wet places. The miners near helmets made of
either leather or bakelit Pit
lamps provided the miners are made in CSR.
A radiometric (or, as it is called in dachymov, a geological) team
is attached to each shift, its size varying from two to ten members;
a limited number of women are employed in these -teams. The teams
work with three sorts of radiometric instruments:
1) An aluminum case in the form of a rod about 60 cm in length
and 4 cm in diameter? The rod has a plug for an earphone cop."
nection. Inside the rod are a batter, and a counter,
2) Same as above with a rod length of about 80 cm and the same
diameter. In this dase the battery is worn in a box suspended
across the chest,
4) In operation, the rods are passed over the rocks in all directions,
very close to, but w._thout touching them, If a click or crackling
sound is recorded the spot is marked with white oil paint. 4'+ith
none of the mentioned instruments is it possible to determine the
quantity, qua.~.ity, or. distance of the radio-active arterial discovered.
(tor other radiometric equipment used at Upravria and in protecting,
see below).
latter part contains une .
3) Same as in (2) with the following difference: Length of the rod
is about one peter and the same diameter, while another rod 30 cm
in length and 4 cm in diameter is affixed in a T.form across the
top of the first one, in this case the
t0 There are no turning platforms on any of the Svornost levels but only
tin iron sheets of about 3 cra thickness on which the wagon traffic is
maneuvered by hand. Ventilation throughout Svornost shaft Is very bad
with the exception of the Twelfth Levels where it is satisfactory.
ur, Ilear the vornost rock heap there is a new shaft under (inn nmyninti nn
This is actually an old shaft which is been deepened.
in February 1949, this shaft had reached a depth 50X1-HUM
o about 300 in, will be connected to gvornost shaft. This new
shaft will be exwlusivel;T for transporting; crews and hauling in mater .al,
Svornost shaft will then only be used for hauling out dead rock and ore,
because it would not be possible to perform all hauling operations at
Svornost after the two connecting; passages to Bratrstvi are completed
and part of the Rratrs tv5. haulin is transferred to gvornost,
maims W(Ir sha D9.
The Elias and Irene shafts, on the east side of the forest path leading
from Gottesgab south, and tho ore oashery Upravna on its west side ford
one complex covering about 1 square km, fenced in with barbed wire and
illuminated at night. At the southeast corner of the complex is a FI
camp lodging the Gerd., Pad a s working there? Between the camp and the
path is an old rock heap containing the vastermate ial from 50X1-HUM
Elias and Irene from the time when they were exploited for silver rather
than pitchblende ore. This rock heap is the dump from which Upravna draws
its raw material. The two shafts are close together on the same side cf
the path and surrounded by an old machine shop, a new machine shop under
construction, an office building, and storage facilities, on the other
side of the path is a new rock heap 0,rhere the dead rock from the 50X1-HUM
present opperation of the shafts is dumped. Beyond it lies another old rock 50X1-HUM
heap a originating in pre.pitchblend tines and not yet being exploited
(as of February 1949). Another now rock heap situated closer to Upravna, 50X1-HUM
receives the waste torial left after the processing of are at Upravna.
Upravna is located in the northtbost corner of the complex to ether with a
tiler room and a transformer station. 50X1-HUM
aE9RtT
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94
t4. :,1?aa, an old shaft about 150 m in depth, does not have a hauling frar ;
C.iLUTRAL III ~ .i IGi C:: _.GiLNCY
because it is not vertical but oblique. The crews descend into and
leave the shaft by ladders. Dead rock and ore are loaded into wacr.s
inside the shaft and moved by hand to special mine cars into which the 50X1-HUM
material is loaded. The special mine cars are then drawn above ground
by a cable winch driven by an electronotor and empty their contents
there automatically. The shaft is operated in three shifts. The average
shift yield of dead rock is about 100 wagons of 0.75 cubic mater volume
each, i.e, each holding between 1500 and 2000 pounds of not rock (yield
Elias is considered to be a shaft of medium yieldb 50X1-HUM
The shaft is very wets and because of its slanting position., the houl'
ing in this shaft is complicated. It is therefore planned that the
Elias hauling be taken over by Irene, once this latter shaft is completed,
b. Irene., thus called in honor of a Russian woman geologist Irene von
Tannenbaum., who worked in Jachymov 50X1-HUM
was an old dead shaft which was re-opened under the postwar Jachymov
minim, project, In February 1949 it was about 90 m deep and was being
deepened further. Under the present Jachymov mining projects Irene is
scheduled to be provided with the same hauling frame and machinery as
vornost (see above). It has now (6optembor 1947 to February 1949) a
temporary old hauling frame. Parts of the new hauling, frame and machinery
arrived in October 1948 but by February 1949 they were not yet complete.
co The crews working in Elias and Irene amount to a total of 550 Pt'J's and
200 civilians of Czech, Russian, and German origin, Of these 750 persons,
about two-thirds are working above ground and one third underground.
About 15 of them are women who are occupied above gr
ound. The proportion
of the above ground crews is ral~itively high because many of them are 50X1-HUM
working on the old rock heap in connection with its exploitation
through Upravna,
This ore washery (and another smaller one at'Bratrstvi and possibly one more
at 8lavkov.see below) is the only place in the entire Jachymov mining project
where ore is actually dressed. That jeans that in the Jachymov project only
tY..at ore is dressed which cones from old rock heaps originating in the days
when pitchblende was considered to be wastw rterial. All Jachymov ore hauled
from underground is only picked and sorted there and at Pratrstvi and is
shipped to Russia in this state. in February 50X1-HUM
only ore from the old rock heap near the Pad camp in the ul3as-
irene-Upravna complex had been dressed in Upravna, but it was planned that
Upravna should later take on ore for dressing from the other old rock heap 50X1-HUM
in the same complex., and from rock heaps attached to other shafts throughout
the Jachymov project. The old rock heap cs in a cavity., reaching a height 50X1-HUM
of .35 to 40 m from its deepest point? Roug y speaking it has a width of
175 to 200 m and a horizontal depth (sic) of about 400 m (these dimensions
which strictly would only apply to a regTular body are meant to give an
approximate idea of its volume). Parts of it are covered with mss, plants, 50X1-HUM
and small trees? Its main body is dead rock with crumbs of ore in it. The
old rock heap scheduled to be exploited in the future by Upravna
separated from the first one by the forest path., and the now rock heap 50X1-HUM
are of lesser dimensions, having about one third of the volume of the first
one,
a. The total area covered by Upravna,, its auxili.3.ry bui.ldings,and transport
installations is about 500 by 500 in, The rain Upravna building has four
floors and is about 50 m long and 48 m wide. It is built into the side
J-._.__'1_.2_... ..,._ ,_s" 50X1-HUM
J
f ^ h;"
': n.. '"
t
o
he other efore
one
oor reac
eyon
so that its upright projection resembles a reversed stair case
Ore coming from the rock heap reaches the fourth floor first,
figure as of February 1949), The yield of ore is unknaan
The first floor contains 51 vibrator tables, office rooms., and, in a wall 50X1-HUM
recess.,, an electric distribution board serving all floors. On the second
floor are 53. more vibrator tables,, 2 ball mills, and 2 screening tables,
The third floor has 2 roller mills and a small laboratory. The fourth
floor contains a stone-crushing machine, a sifting screen, a fitter's shop,
a turner's shop, an electric wwor'kshop, and a supply room.
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SECzT
CENTRAL I ( ,LIGLNCE AGINCY
l0-
b. ;mterial obtained from the old rock heap_is put on a lattice which 50X1-HUM
sorts out the biggest pieces. These large pieces are examined there
with counters. Those large pieces which are good are pac~-ed in wooden
boxes and transferred to Bratrstvi; t1': worthless large pieces are
dumped onto one of the new took heaps as waste material. 50X1-HUM
The fine material which has now been separated from the biggest pieces,
is transported from the old rock heap =to a sorting station located 50X1-HUM
opposite the rock heap on the other side of the forest path. The trans-
port is made by two conveyor belts in succession, the material falling
from the first bolt onto the second, which is a little lower. The total
length of the two belts together is about 300 n. Reaching the sorting
station, the material falls into a drum about 5 m in length and about
80 cm in diameter. The drum is provided with holes of different sizes
varying; in diameter-size from 2 to 8 cm. When the drum revolves, some
pieces fall through the holes and those .jhich~are too big remain-in
the drum. These latter pieces fall from the drum onto two slow-moving,
parallel conveyor belts which pass through a control station. There a
team of two or three geologists examineihe pieces with counters while
they are slowly passing. Pieces which do not react are left on the belts
and pass on to the new rock heap 0 where they are dumped. Those which 50X1-HUM
react are removed by hand, dumped into wooden boxes which, when filled,
are'shipped to Bratrstvi. This procedure again eleminates pieces exceeding
a certain size. All the other pieces, having fallen through the holes
of the revolving drum into a fuel, are carried on small conveyor belts
into wagons. The loaded wagons, each accompanied by a man, pass on to a
two-wall control station (different from and next to the one mentioned
above). This station consists of two walls of either sheet iron or
aluminum facing each other across a distance 50X1-HUM
of about cm. a approximate mensions of the walls are; height 80 cm.,
length 1 in, thickness 4 cm. Behind one of the walls a clogist -
metric operator) is seated at a table on which there i 50X1-HUM
an ammeter and various lamps (sic: these "lamps" may be vacuum 50X1-HUM
tubes). The' loaded mine car and the an accompanying it remain between
the two walls about 15 seconds. During this time the geologist determines
the radioactive quality of the contents of the car as a whole by consulting
the reaction of the electrical instrument and the lamps., He then assigns
a number to the car, which he communicates to the man accompanying it and
which he enters in a record. All passing cars are thus divided into three
different grades. Having passed the station, the mine car is emptied on one
of three dumps according to the number assigned to it. The material-put
on the two dumps representing the better qualities is packed in wooden
boxes and transferred to Bratratvi. Only the lowest quality material is
loaded onto two successive conveyor belts of a total length of about 370 m.
These belts carry it uphill to the main Upravna building for processing
there.
c, From the last belt the material falls into a bin with a base of 3 to 4
meters square and a height of 7 to 8 meters. By means of a slide which
can be automatically opened at the base of the bin., the material falls onto
a conveyor belt, which runs from the base of the bin to a jig screen on
the fourth floor of the Upravna building where it is sprinkled with water
coming from pierced pipes above the jig screen. The water washes mud
and very small pieces out of the material, and this watery mud is led
through pipe connections directly to the pebble mills on the second floor.
The jig screen separates the remaining substance into fine and rough
material. The fine material is led into the roller mills on the third
floor by belt conveyors. The rought material is carried by belt to the
stone-crushing machine on the fourth floors where it is crushed and then
carried to the rolling mills. There the material is crushed again between
two rollers and again sprinkled with water. Under each rolling mill is a
funnel into which the crushed and muddy material falls from the mills., and
from there it drops to a belt passing underneath the funnels. The belt
moves over three iron-plate bins, each provided with a stripping device
(sic) with which the material is stripped from the belt into the bins,
from which it is conveyed to the pebble mills on the second. floor, finally
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP82-00457R004600600004-5
CINTRALeINTLLLIGENCE AGENCY
- it -
6. The hauling frame and machine shop of Bratrstvi are underground. The entrance
to the shaft runs horizontally. Trucks are able to approach the hauling frame.
7. Bore holes in the Jachymov area are dug?with boring bare of about 12 cm diameter
SECRET
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP82-00457R004600600004-5
reaching the processing stage of the watery mud led there directly
from the jig screen on the fourth floor. Each pebble mill has a
body length of 405 and a diameter of 3.5 m. The mills are half
filled with loose steel balls of sizes varying from 3 to 6 cm in
diameter. While the mills revolve slowly, crushing the material again,
water is led into then. The processed material is piped to the two
screening tables, also on the second floor, where it is again screened
into a fine and a rougher type. The rougher type is pumped back into
the pebble mills and processed again until it reaches a sufficiently
fine stage. This fine material is led through trough conveyors to the
individual vibrator tables on the second and first floors. Each table
consists of a wooden board topped with a cement coating 2.5 m in length
and 1 m in width. The board is supported on each end by a group of 4
lamellas of oak wood 80 cm high which stand on another board. Under-
neath the upper board is a strong spring stretched diagonally down to the
lower one. The cement coating has a series of horizontal grooves lying
close to each other. Each table has a motor attached to it which when
in operation shakes it0 Through the combined action of the motor,, the
elastic oak lammellas, and the spring, the table is made to vibrate
lengthwise back and forth, then the watery ore mud enters one end of
the table, the vibration exerts a separating effect on it. The lightest
parts of it pass over the grooves and flow.off the table. Heavier parts
settle in the grooves and are carried across part of the table before
they flow off. Only the heaviest parts reach the end of the table as a
fine, sandlike streak of watery ore. Only this last part is caught in
open ore buckets., while all the rest is dumped into a mud basin outside
the building as waste material. The open buckets containing the heaviest
concentrate are brought into a drying station near the building and the
ore is dried over an open fire. This a drying system was to be
improved., and by February 1949.,- two electric 50X1-HUM
staves of CSR make had arrived for this purpose beat were not yet in
operation, After drying, the ore is put into buckets which can be closed,,
loaded on trucks and transported to Bratrstvi for further shipment to
Russia. The result of this dressing is a concentrate of 8 per cent.
anforment was unable to state whether this means the concentrated ore con-
tains 8 per cent uranium?)
d0 Power supply for Upravna (as well as Elias and Irene) comas from the pre-
viously mentioned 22,000 V line, which enters the Elias-Irene-Upravna
complex at its southeast corner near the Pt7 camp, and leads to'the
Upravna transformer station. It is there transformed by two oil trans-
formers of 800 and 500 M, respectively. Water supply for Upravna is
pumped from nearby brooks .
e. Upravna works in three eight-hour shifts. The crew of one shift con-
sists of 80 PtiW's, 30 civilian women mostly of Czech and German origin
and 30 to 40 male civilians of the same nationalities. On an average
200 mine cars (of the 0.75 cubic m type) filled with material from the
old rock heap =are processed by one Upravna shift. The yield quota 50X1-HUM
as ordered by Russian authorities is uniformly 50 kg of concentrate in
its wet (undried) condition per vibrator table and per shift. This
quota cannot be fulfilled because the yield depends on the quality of
the arriving material. The actual yield of wet concentrate of 8 per
cent varies from 20 to 40 kg per vibrator table and per shift.
As mentioned above, there is also an ore washery attached to Bratrstvi. The
vibrator table system there consists of one series of32 tables and another
of 24 tables. The better quality material which is sorted out from the Elias-
Irene rock heap, in the way described in paragraph 4, and shipped to Bratrstvi.,
is subjected there to the same concentrating process As the smaller,, lower
quality material in Upravna. The yield figurss are unknown
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bUA] -h u IVI
ItGI
CENTRAL(INTELLIG NCE AGENCY
y 12 -
which are threaded together? Radiometric investigation of these holes is
done with aluminum cases of the kind mentioned above, but of smaller length
than those used inside the shafts and galleries. The case is suspended on
a rubber cable which is uncoiled from a drum and slowly lowered into the
hole.
8, The entire Jachyiov mining project is under mixed Russian-oCzech administration,
with the Russians exerting the highest authority. One of the highest Russian
administrators there is Engineer Usherov, allegedly holding the rank of Colonel.
A Russian named Morisov, allegedly a general, is in charge of all German PW's
working there. The name of the commander of the PtJ camp for those PW's who
work in shops., messes, etc., and not in shafts., is Alexander. The administra-
tive headquarters of the entire Jachymov project is located in an old tobacco
factory (Tabakovka), situated in the northeast end of the city(see sketch ;$l).
The Tabakovka complex, consisting of the min Tabakovka building and a number
of other buildings such as repair shops for machines and vehicles, workshops.,
warehouses, etc. for the entire Jachymov area, is fenced in by barbed wires
and guarded, The main building has 4 stories. The top floor is reserved for
residences of Russian personnel; the other floors contain offices and a central
laboratory consisting of several rooms. The rail line from Jachymov to Ostrov
starts within the Tabakovka complea~
9. A central storage house for the entire Jachymov project is looted about 5 km
from Jachymov in the direction of Ostrov in a place called Horny Brand on the
railroad to Ostrov. Bigger parts., such as pipes, machines, and machine parts.,
etc.., are stored there.
10. The entire Jacbymov area is a controlled area. People entering or leaving
it need special passes. Each shaft area is fenced off by wooden or barbed
wire fences or both. Entrances and exits belonging to shaft areas are per-
manently guarded by Czech civilian mine police armed with pistols and carbines.
The chief of this police, a Slovak by the name of Korima, is under Russian
orders? Everyone passing through a shaft area entrance or exit has to produce
a special pass. Throughout the entire mining area, the SUB police undertakes
frequent control drives with cars and motorcycles; the same is done in the
streets of Jachymov and the adjoining towns. On the streets of the city and
outside the city throughout the mining area,, frequent spot checks are carried
out by the SUB with the aid of counters in order to determine whether or not
ore has been removed from the shaft areas. The same is done from time to time
in the residences of all mixers. PV camps are searched with the aid of counters
about once in three months. All ore transports within the mining area are
accompanied by civilian armed guards consisting mostly of Russians. Railroad
ore transports are guarded by Russian soldiery and officers.
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