Butugychag

Butugychag () was a tin, gold and uranium mine and a former forced labour camp in the Kolyma region of North-Eastern Russia, present-day Magadan Oblast. ==Forced Labor Camp== The Butugychag Corrective Labor Camp () was part of the bigger Berlag, a subdivision of GULAG. The camp existed during 1945–1955 . The camp is mostly known for its deadly uranium extraction. It is mentioned by some Russian historians such as Anatoly Zhigulin. It is one of a small number of camps where prisoners mined uranium, the truth of which has only recently been recovered.

thumb|Part of a prisoner's bunk The camp's main activity was the mining of various types of ore, including tin, gold, and uranium. The camp also contained a top secret research-medical facility where a series of experiments were conducted on camp inmates. Witnesses of the camp state that the camp took the life of some 380,000 people in the 10 years of its existence, despite a maximum capacity of 31,500 only having been reached in 1952. Uranium mining was conducted manually without any protective gear, resulting in severe occupational risks to prisoners. The average miner's life span was less than a year, and radiation levels in the area are still elevated. The administration of the Tenkinsky District installed warning signs around the area as a precaution against trespassers.