North Korea’s nuclear mine SINKS: Tunnels collapse at Kim Jong Un’s main uranium source

The uranium mine that powers North Korea’s nuclear weapons has been rocked by a series of cave-ins, with the scale of the disaster visible from space.

Jacob Bogle, who has created a comprehensive map of the country from satellite photos, discovered the collapse in recent images of the Pyongsan mine.

The mine is the regime’s main source of uranium ore, which can be refined into yellowcake and ultimately weapons-grade uranium.

And it’s less than a kilometer from the only operating plant in North Korea that can process the ore into yellowcake.

The recent collapse at the Pyongsan mine appears to be progressive, moving west in successive collapses from 2019 to 2021

Now the mine has been hit by disaster, with satellite photos capturing the sudden appearance of large depressions in the earth near the mine entrance.

Bogle said all signs were pointing to a collapse.

He said: ‘The Pyongsan mine is underground, so the only visible aspects should be the tunnel entrances, surface facilities such as crushing equipment and coal piles.

“However, what has developed at the mine is a series of irregular shafts with no associated activity: no trucks, no bucket excavators, and nothing to suggest they were created to facilitate mining.”

Two of those pits, each more than 100 meters wide, are clearly visible in satellite photos.

Mr Bogle continued: ‘This area of ​​the mine was already weakened by a 100 meter wide collapse that occurred at least two decades ago.

The recent collapses appear to be progressive, moving west in successive collapses from 2019 to 2021.

“This suggests that the mined drifts had lost their structural support and water infiltration has further weakened the site, causing collapses that follow the drift paths.”

The mine is the Kim Jong Un regime’s main source of uranium ore, which can be refined into yellowcake and ultimately weapons-grade uranium. Pictured: Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, January 1, 2023

The human cost of the collapses is unknown, but people continue to work on the facilities, evidence suggests.

With each new satellite photo, the debris piles at the site have continued to grow, while new structures have been built above ground.

Mr Bogle said: ‘The mine is still in use and the main tailings pile has grown every year for the last decade, indicating continued operations.

And while satellite imagery can’t tell us if the cave-ins have caused any injuries, there is an active mine shaft just 230 meters from the area experiencing the cave-ins.

“In fact, that well was remodeled and additional structures were built in recent years to facilitate more activity.”

The Pyongsan mine is so large that even after the recent collapses, the flow of uranium for Kim Jong-un’s nuclear weapons is likely to continue.

But Bogle warned that these meltdowns could be just the beginning.

He said: ‘Mining is one of the most dangerous sectors in North Korea.

“The country lacks modern equipment and is not known to use advanced technologies to determine where mineral veins are or to locate fissures in the rock that could present security risks.

The mine is less than a kilometer from the only operating plant in North Korea that can process the ore into yellowcake.

Satellite photos captured the sudden appearance of large depressions in the earth near the mine entrance.

“Wood beams are the most common method used to support roofs, but without proper planning or routine maintenance, the weight of the rock that covers them can cause a collapse.”

He added: ‘Kim Jong-un announced in December that he wants to build ‘exponentially’ more nuclear weapons.

‘To do that, more ore must be mined from Pyongsan.

“Given the area’s track record, that can only mean even more accidents and cave-ins as increasing amounts of material are mined for processing.”

The Pyongsan mine is located 62 miles southeast of Pyongyang and less than 30 miles from the border with South Korea.

The Kim regime confessed that it was extracting uranium from coal there during a visit by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1992.