North Korea’s Pyongsan Mine, A Source Of Uranium Ore Caves In: Satellite Photos Reveal

North Korea’s Pyongsan mine, the country’s only source of uranium, has collapsed. The scale of destruction from the site is visible from space as revealed by satellite photos. The mine and its refinery, which was meant to supply North Korea with uranium for its nuclear weapons and various other projects, appeared to be operational despite the recent cave-in.

Jacob Bogle, who once created a comprehensive map of North Korea from satellite photos, discovered the collapse while reviewing satellite images of the area. He said that large depressions in the earth could be seen close to the entrance of the mine, which all point toward a collapse in the mine’s inner structure, the Daily Mail reported.

Bogle said the only visible aspect of the mine was the facilities and crushed equipment on the surface as the mine was mostly underground. However, some irregular pits have formed on the surface with no trucks or excavation equipment seen to suggest a mere digging operation was conducted. He said two pits just 100 meters from each other are quite visible in the satellite photos.

The same disaster struck the mine almost two decades ago, according to Bogle, with more occurring in 2019-2021. He said the collapses seemed to be progressive as they appear to be moving toward the West. He added that the evidence pointed to the mined-out galleries losing their structural support. He added these were likely weakened further by water infiltration which caused the recent collapse.

It is unknown if there were any casualties during the cave-in, but evidence suggested that the facility was still in use as people can still be seen working in the area. Bogle said that piles of debris captured by new satellite photos continue to grow bigger, with new structures being erected above ground. The mine seemed to be operational with the main tailings pile growing each year for the last decade, indicating that uranium is still being extracted from the facility.

A refinery sits just a kilometer from the mine, where the ore is brought and refined into yellowcakes. These are then processed into weapons-grade variants for the country's nuclear weapons program.