Former uranium ore open-cast mining

1946 - 1990 the WISMUT company, a german-soviet venture, prospected for uranium ore needed in the soviet nuclear industry at several sites in Thuringia and Saxony. The miners took high health risks. Approx. 5.000 - 15.000 men died of miners lung diseases and radiation induced cancers in the latter years. Surface devastations and rock heaps remain unresolved problems to this day.