Page:NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 18; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; THE ECONOMY CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110014-8.pdf/19

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current production is sufficient to provide about 2,800 tons of uranium metal per year. The administration is in Czechoslovak hands, but under Soviet supervision through a Soviet-Czechoslovak Joint Commission. All uranium is sent to the U.S.S.R. either as high grade raw ore or as concentrate. Uranium is mined in more than 12 areas throughout Czechoslovakia with about two-thirds of total output being accounted for by operations in the Pribram area, although the largest reserves are situated in the Hamr district in the northeastern part of the country. The average grade of uranium mined is about 0.4%. High grade ore averaging 1.5% in uranium content is sent directly to the Soviet Union in an unprocessed state.

There are two plants to process low grade ore, one at Mydlovary and one at Dolni Rozinka. The Mydlovary plant was constructed in 1959-63 and has a capacity of process 700,000 tons of raw ore per year. Currently the plant is handling about 600,000 tons of ore per year and produces a 50% to 60% concentrate. The average uranium content of the input is 0.15% to 0.20%. The Dolni Rozinka plant was constructed during 1956 to 1958 as a replacement for an older plant at Nejdek. Through expansion in 1969, the plant now processes about 400,000 tons of uranium ore per year. Most of its input comes from Pribram and contains 0.1% uranium metal.

Czechoslovakia has large reserves of magnesite estimated to be at least 500 million tons. Mining is centered in eastern Slovakia and refining operations are carried out nearby at eight magnesite calcining plants. Production of calcined magnesite amounted to 628,000 tons in 1972. Normally about half of the domestic output of calcined magnesite is exported, mainly to West Germany, Hungary, and Poland. The supply available for domestic consumption is used in the manufacture of basic refractory bricks and other materials for metallurgical furnaces.

c. Construction materials

Czechoslovakia produces a varied assortment of construction materials for both domestic use and export (Figure 7). The 1972 production of slightly more than 8 million metric tons of cement, one of the more important materials, put the Czechoslovaks 16th in world output and fourth among the Eastern European countries. Upon the completion of the Turna nad Bodvon cement plant at the end of 1973, output is expected to increase by 750,000 metric tons and should reduce the dependence on imports, which generally have amounted to approximately 7% of domestic output. Moreover, this additional output may be used to increase exports, especially to Yugoslavia and West Germany.

Czechoslovakia is a major producer and exporter of sheet glass. Nearly 13 million square meters of flat glass or approximately 37% of national production was exported in 1971. Although total exports have been reasonably constant, the pattern of this trade has shifted in the last decade. In the early 1960's the United States took as much as 20% of exports but has all but disappeared as a consumer in the early 1970's. This decline was offset by increased exports to Eastern Europe, especially to East Germany and Hungary which together took 40% of exports in 1971. Italy, the Netherlands, and Canada also are major importers of flat glass.

Sawn timber and wall tiles are the other two major construction materials exported by Czechoslovakia. In 1973, 713 thousand cubic meters of sawn lumber were exported—about three-fourths to Western Europe—while 161 thousand cubic meters were brought in from the Soviet Union. Exports of wall tiles go primarily to the Soviet Union and Hungary, who current absorb about half the total.

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