Trepča Mines
Location | |
---|---|
Location | Mitrovica, Kosovo |
Coordinates | 42°56′21″N 20°55′05″E / 42.93917°N 20.91806°E |
Production | |
Products | |
History | |
Opened | 1920 |
Active | 1925–present |
Owner | |
Company | Government of Kosova |
The Trepča Mines (Albanian: Miniera e Trepçës, Serbian: Рудник Трепча / Rudnik Trepča) is a large industrial complex in Kosovo, located 9 km (5.6 mi) northeast of Mitrovica.[1] The mine is located on the southern slopes of the Kopaonik mountain, between the peaks of Crni Vrh (1,364 m (4,475 ft)) and Majdan 1,268 m (4,160 ft), and it is Europe's largest lead-zinc and silver ore mine.[2][3]
With up to 23,000 employees, Trepča was once one of the biggest companies in Yugoslavia. In the 1930s, the Selection Trust gained the rights to exploit the Stari Trg mine close to Mitrovica.[4] After World War II, under socialist management, the company further expanded.
Overview
The enterprise known as Trepča was a conglomerate of 40 mines and factories, located mostly in Kosovo but also in locations in Montenegro. But the heart of its operations, and the source of most of its raw material, is the vast mining complex to the east of Mitrovica in the north of Kosovo, famous since Roman times.[5]
However, with the closure of several mines and factories in the late 1980s and 1990s, the Trepča mining complex in Kosovo now comprises only seven lead and zinc mines, three concentrators, one smelter, and one zinc plant. Mines are categorized according to their geographic location:
- Northern Chain: Belo Brdo mine, Crnac mine and Žuta Prlina
- Middle Chain: Stari Trg mine
- Southern Chain:
This is all that remains of the huge complex that during the 1980s employed 20,000 workers, and accounted for 70% of all Yugoslavia's mineral wealth.[7]
The mines still have a reserve of 60.5 million tonnes of ore grading 4.96% lead, 3.3% zinc and 74.4 gr/tonne silver, which translates as three million tonnes of lead, two million tonnes of zinc and 4,500 tonnes of silver.[8]
History
Middle Ages
Origin
Stari Trg is one of the rare mines which was operational from the Roman period.[9] Many constructions back in the Roman Empire were constructed including fortresses, wells, drosses, etc. The main fortress was built for the Roman city Municipium Dardanorum which was the capital city of a Roman province in Dardani. With the collapse of the Roman Empire and Slavic migrations, mining activity decreased leading to closure until the late Medieval Era (1000–1492). The long history of the successive influxes of the Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian, Albanian and Turkish people helps explain the cultural mixing and the legacies of old grievances which underlie the chaos of the 1990s.[10]
Full development
During his reign (1243–76),
The mining activity answered the needs of the successive lords and their
Ottoman Register of the 16th century
Several neighborhoods in the area of Trepča according to the Ottoman defter of 1591 were Islamised and the other neighborhoods contained people with a mixture of Christian, Albanian and Slavic names. According to Selami Pulaha, Trepča in the 16th century had a significant Albanian population.[13] 13 heads of families in the neighborhood of Trepz and 22 heads of families in the neighborhood Mekisha bore typical Albanian names.[14]
Downfall
Under the Ottoman rule, Trepča, and all the other mines (like
20th-century revival
Selection Trust
After
In 1925 a big exploration program was carried out by the British company, Selection Trust, which assessed the huge potential of the ore deposit and acquired the concession in 1926. The concession was obtained by Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, American-born British industrialist who founded the Selection Trust, nicknamed "King of copper", from Rade Pašić, son of Nikola Pašić. Beatty became the first owner and a head of the modern Trepča mines.[17] On 9 September 1927 he launched the Trepča Mines Limited subsidiary in London and the mines were operational under that name until the end of World War II, so the founding act of the later company said: "Founded on 9 December 1927, Broad and son, 1 Great Winchester Street, London ECZ".[18]
Exploitation of the ore began in 1930 ("First tunnel" in Stari Trg). On 14 August 1930, the
During the German occupation of Yugoslavia in World War II, Stari Trg, the centerpiece mine, supplied 40 percent of lead used in the Nazi war industry.[20] After the German-lead Invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, most of what is today Kosovo was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy but the area around Trepča was part of the German-installed Serbian state. The mines were under the direct German administration, allowing the continued flow of minerals for the production of ammunition and submarine batteries. Output of these products was continued in the period after 1945, in the new, Communist Yugoslavia.[12][18]
Post-WW2 expansion
Since 1939 the complex was expanded and reconstructed on several occasions.
From 1930 to 1985, 131 million tons of lead and zinc ore was processed. Until the production ceased in 2000, historical total output included: 3,3 million tons of refined lead, 4,100 tons of refined silver and 3,300 tons of bismuth. Calculated in 2017 parity, production of the complex was $360 million in 1975 and $340 million in 1987.[19]
In 1985, Trepča was Europe's 1st and world's 5th largest raw lead smelting facility and one of the largest for processing zinc. Production capacity included: 3.5 million tons of ore, 165,000 tons of raw lead, 110,000 tons of refined lead, 40,000 tons of electrolytic zinc, 100 tons of fine silver, 100 tons of refined bismuth, 72 tons of cadmium, 200 kg of gold, 20,000 tons of lead batteries, 280,000 tons of sulfuric acid, 100,000 tons of sulfur-phosphate and 150,000 tons of composite fertilizers. It produced over 80% of refined lead and over 50% of refined zinc in Yugoslavia.[3]
The 1989 miners' strike
The 1989 Kosovo miners' strike was a hunger strike initiated by some workers of the Trepča Mines on 20 February 1989 against the abolition of the autonomy of the Province of Kosovo by the Socialist Republic of Serbia.[24] The strike quickly gained support in Slovenia and Croatia, while in Belgrade protests were held against the Slovenian, Albanian and Croatian demands for decentralization. The strike council articulated ten requirements, which included obeying the 1974 constitution, stopping the alleged chauvinist and hegemonistic politics of the time, amnesty for the strike leaders, etc.[25] The strike lasted eight days, being known as the longest underground strike to have been held. It eventually ended after the hospitalization of 180 miners and the resignation of the heads of the pro-Milošević leaders
Collapse
This complex progressively collapsed during the last fifteen years, for reasons such as outdated installations; neglect and lack of maintenance, repair, and reinvestment; absence of control over production; robbery of equipment and workshops,
At the time, an estimated 25,000 tons per year of
On 18 September 1999, the mineralogical museum of the mine, where guarded treasures had been accumulated since 1966, was plundered by thieves benefiting from the confusion. It was reported that the most invaluable vivianite specimen of the museum, more than 1,500 of the crystals collected inside the mine since 1927, and 150 specimens which had been given by 30 countries from all over the world had disappeared.[8]
UNMIK inherited a large problem through its trusteeship of the assets, and in February 2002, Bjelic suffered from criminal court proceedings brought by the UNMIK-installed management board.[21]
Kosovo War and after
Shutting down
The arrival of
Chief of the US section of the KFOR, General
On 4 January 2001, Serbian deputy prime minister Nebojša Čović signed a document which returned the seat of the company to Zvečan and changes the structure of Trepča, transforming it back to the state owned company, which effectively retroactively legalized the military occupation of the complex.[30]
As of 2017[update], the only remaining operational part of the complex were the Kopaonik mines and the flotation in Leposavić.[19]
Privatisation
The Trepča mining complex is derelict in a failing state that has immense potential, but has so far been ignored by serious investors for myriad reasons. The mine effectively went out of production as a result of the 1999 civil war and has been rumored to be part of the reason for the conflict in the first place.[31][30]
Its economy is in dire straits and there are few options to improve it. Trepča, despite its problems, provides one of the few significant development opportunities. The facility needs major upgrades, but the mineral reserves are great enough to offset the start-up costs. Most importantly, a reactivated Trepča would provide several thousand jobs and increase Kosovo's foreign exchange.
It is estimated that the necessary improvements would cost between 15 and 30 million US dollars.
The concern that letting in foreign investors will give away their promising source of natural resources since the complex is considered a treasure for the nation needs to be appeased in order for its privatization to happen sooner. In the following years, certain legislation like a new mining law and regulations for investment incentives, will support privatization efforts if approved in order for the complex to work and be used at its highest level.[33]
2015 nationalization attempt
In January 2015, the
In October 2016, the nationalisation process went ahead over Serbian diplomatic protest. The mine "had been held in trust and readied for sale" since 1999 by the UN-protected
As of March 2019, the Serbian managers of RMHK Trepca were still fighting a rearguard action against the nationalization.[36][37]
Economic impact
The impact on town of Mitrovica was a major one. In only one census period of 10 years, from 1961 to 1971, the town grew by 57,7% (26,721 to 42,126).[1]
Kosovo has not yet fully recovered from the
Geology
Geologically, the Trepča area belongs to the
Trepča was the largest Galena and Sphalerite mine in Yugoslavia.[42]
More than sixty minerals are listed up to date, most of which from a museological viewpoint are of exceptional quality.[8]
They include:
- Actinolite
- Anglesite
- Ankerite
- Aragonite
- Arsenopyrite
- Barite
- Bismuth
- Bornite
- Boulangerite
- Bournonite
- Calcite
- Chalcanthite
- Chalcedony
- Chalcopyrite
- Childrenite
- Chlorite
- Covellite
- Cubanite
- Diopside
- Dolomite
- Enargite
- Epidote
- Galena
- Garnets
- Gypsum
- Hedenbergite
- Hematite
- Illite
- Indium
- Jamesonite
- Limonite
- Löllingite
- Ludlamite
- Magnetite
- Marcasite
- Melanterite
- Native gold
- Psilomelane
- Pyrargyrite
- Pyrite
- Pyrrhotite
- Quartz
- Rhodochrosite
- Scheelite
- Siderite
- Smithsonite
- Sphalerite
- Stannite
- Stibnite
- Struvite
- Tennantite
- Tetrahedrite
- Thallium
- Valleriite
- Vivianite
- Wollastonite[43]
The amount of ore mining in Kosovo is continuously in decline, as represented here:
Stari Trg | Kišnica & Novo Brdo | Northern Chain | Ore | Lead (%) | Zinc (%) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1975 | 636,700 | 717,398 | 353,226 | 1,707,324 | 4.57% | 4.43% |
1976 | 658,355 | 734,706 | 359,656 | 1,752,717 | 4.30% | 4.39% |
1977 | 671,758 | 821,322 | 374,591 | 1,867,671 | 4.32% | 4.18% |
1978 | 603,187 | 796,003 | 359,052 | 1,758,242 | 4.27% | 4.08% |
1979 | 674,801 | 786,654 | 362,586 | 1,824,041 | 4.23% | 3.82% |
1980 | 668,418 | 882,605 | 376,031 | 1,927,054 | 3.82% | 3.54% |
1981 | 696,216 | 840,508 | 383,285 | 1,920,009 | 3.77% | 3.18% |
1982 | 628,037 | 852,979 | 402,606 | 1,883,622 | 3.49% | 3.24% |
1983 | 672,262 | 710,797 | 354,907 | 1,737,966 | 3.58% | 3.29% |
1984 | 702,724 | 718,708 | 371,089 | 1,792,521 | 3.36% | 2.95% |
1985 | 687,558 | 582,002 | 340,388 | 1,609,948 | 3.45% | 3.02% |
1986 | 647,078 | 523,351 | 297,409 | 1,467,838 | 3.51% | 3.03% |
1987 | 636,935 | 527,930 | 267,281 | 1,432,146 | 3.73% | 3.00% |
1988 | 571,618 | 442,664 | 264,857 | 1,279,139 | 3.51% | 3.26% |
1989 | 368,573 | 413,244 | 237,028 | 1,018,845 | 3.54% | 3.33% |
1990 | 204,570 | 298,143 | 217,755 | 720,468 | 3.03% | 3.16% |
1991 | 206,489 | 177,553 | 105,322 | 489,364 | 3.84% | 4.14% |
1992 | 134,946 | 62,449 | 90,020 | 287,415 | 4.15% | 3.79% |
1993 | 48,612 | 22,953 | 26,437 | 98,002 | 4.04% | 4.39% |
1994 | 32,475 | 26,125 | 13,663 | 72,263 | 3.24% | 3.89% |
1995 | 125,761 | 47,566 | 86,448 | 259,775 | 4.02% | 4.35% |
1996 | 181,809 | 102,641 | 111,225 | 395,675 | 4.39% | 5.25% |
1997 | 257,888 | 117,201 | 138,881 | 513,970 | 3.27% | 4.97% |
1998 | 311,315 | 143,178 | 178,365 | 632,858 | 3.00% | 2.97% |
1999 | 87,296 | 49,490 | 105,640 | 242,426 | 2.60% | 1.72% |
2000 | 0 | 0 | 28,321 | 28,321 | 6.92% | 3.43%[44] |
References
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- ^ "Trepça: Making Sense of the Labyrinth-ICG Balkans Report N° 82, 26 November 1999– Retrieved 2/24/2013" Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Trepça Kosovo under UNMIK Administration, 2005, Summary Description of the Lead Zinc Silver Resources and the Trepça Mines in Kosovo edited by E.T made in Prishtina
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- ^ Novak Bjelić (28 March 2018). "Казивања о "Трепчи": 1303–2018 – Ћирилица уместо латинице" [Tales of "Trepča": 1303–2018 – Cyrillic instead of a Latin script]. Politika (in Serbian). p. 23.
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- ^ Del Castillo, G. (2008). Rebuilding war torn states: the challenge of post-conflict economic reconstruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ^ "Kosovo Miners Stay Deep Underground in Row Over Mine's Fate". VOANews.com. Reuters. 20 January 2015. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015.
- ^ Bytyci, Fatos (8 October 2016). "Kosovo government takes control of Trepca mine, Serbs protest". Reuters.
- .
- ^ "Trepča Sever: Nećemo prihvatiti bespravni Statut Skupštine Kosova". Radio Kontakt Plus. 3 March 2019.
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- Britannica.
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- ^ Josip Šentija; et al., eds. (1981). Opća enciklopedija Jugoslavenskog leksikografskog zavoda, članak sfalerit [General Encyclopedia of the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute, article on sphalerite]. Vol. 7. Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography.
- ^ "The mineral list of The Trepča Complex"
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Bibliography
- C. A. Kidd (1982), A History of the Trepča Mines in Yugoslavia
- Ian Bancroft (2020), Dragon’s Teeth: Tales from North Kosovo