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Mitrovica, Aug 18, 2005 – The Kosovo Minister of Energy and Mines, Ethem Çeku, said yesterday in Mitrovica that production in Kosovo’s most important mining plant “Trepça” is expected to start on Monday.
Minister Çeku made these comments during a visit in the Stan Trg Mine, where he inspected the work at the mine production. He has appreciated the commitment of miners and the management for their work in preparing “Trepça” for resuming of work.
“The Ministry and the Government are preparing a mines development strategy. In doing that, we have been supported by the World Bank, which has allocated a fund for this purpose. Whereas the European Agency for Reconstruction and USAID are also supporting our work in the development of mining strategy in line with the market economy,” he said.
The “Trepça” mine near Mitrovica has yielded for hundreds of years lead and silver ore. One of its rarest commodities are crystals.
During the 1980s, it employed 20,000 workers and accounted for 70 percent of all Yugoslavia’s mineral wealth. At its height “Trepça” generated 25 percent of the entire regional industrial production and figured among the principal exporters of the Ex-Yugoslavia.
Some experts say that in the subsoil of Kosovo, one of the richest of Europe, are hidden enormous deposits of lignite, lead, zinc, non-ferric metals, gold, silver and petroleum, on top of 17 billion tons of coal.
The Ministry officials believe that mines in the future will represent the main bedrock for Kosovo’s economic development.
ECIKS / KosovaLive