The government of Kosovo has allocated €1.1 million to the Trepça mine to help it overcome financial issues due to accumulated debts.
Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti put the debt at €8 million, after a meeting with the mine’s interim board on Friday.
“The situation in the company is very difficult, largely due to the pandemic[…] and the inability for Trepça to sell its products in world markets. We also have to admit that it is also partly due to the inadequate management of this company,” Hoti told the media.
He urged the board to take immediate steps to improve the short term business plan of the company, and present the government with a long-term plan to attract foreign investment.
The zinc, lead and silver mining complex located in the northern city of Mitrovica used to have over 23 thousand employees before the dissolution of Yugoslavia, but only about 1200 now.
Following the Kosovo in 1999, the mines remained in ethnically divided territory, Serb workers in the northern part of the city and Albanian in south. This pushed the company close to bankruptcy.
In 2016, Kosovo’s parliament transformed Trepça into a public company with 80 percent of shares owned by the government and 20 percent by miners. Kosovo Serbs claim managing rights over the mine.
