The Trepca Nation's Lost Years

Its functioning was said to prevent unresolved status and division similar to in the town of Mitrovica itself.

After the war, during the period 2000, the mine has not worked, but had begun preparing production workshops to make it ready in 2005, but at minimal capacity.

From about 600 million tons of ore a year to producing mines in 1945 to the early 1990 ' s, no more than 150 million tons of ore are extracted today.

Even its human capacities have been reduced over the years, reducing to less than 1,000 workers from more than 20,000, since they were employed in this once nation.

In February 2015 the Trepca company was threatened with liquidation, but the Government of Kosovo quickly adopted the Law for Public Enterprises, under which Trepca is derived from the administration of the Kosovo Privatisation Agency (AKP) and converted into a state-run public company.

That decision, at the time, was rejected by opposition parties, which had demanded that Trepca be treated with a separate law.

The issue of the nation's status had also become a trigger for protests by opposition political parties in January 2016, which coincided with fierce clashes between protesters and rule forces.

That same year, Kosovo's Assembly adopted the Trepca Law, with which it was said the economic giant would recover and return to the market.

The law designated the Government of Kosovo as owners of 80 per cent of the nation's shares.

The Kosovo government's decision on the Trepca plant had prompted the official Belgrade response, as Serbia considers it part of it.

The law adopted for Trepca, even after a year since approval, failed to be implemented.

Economic Development Minister Valdin Luka has said they expect the Trepca plant to function in the six-month period of 2018.

“I believe that by June we will have the board, the Trepca registration statute as an action society, the Trepca management, as well as the appreciation of the mining reserves, since until now the data for Trepca reserves are in the 1970s, which are not enough as data for foreign investors, so we should make a re-evaluation of those reserves”, said Minister Luica.

The only study of all of Kosovo's natural resources, which was conducted in 1992, had estimated that Trepca's material potential could be $85 billion.

The country's institutions were criticised by representatives of the Trepca plant and the miners, for neglecting processes that made the law applicable.

Trepca miners tell Radio Free Europe that the neglected process that unable to implement the Law adopted for Trepca created major losses for the company.

Fortunately Sadiku, chairman of the Trepca Union in a campaign for Radio Free Europe speaks of a poor situation in the Trepca plant. He says production has fallen to very low levels.

The current situation in Trepca is not good at all and for many reasons: nonformation of the supervisory board, malmanagement, misuse and non-discipline at work. In the first nine months of this year alone, we have less production for 30 percent compared to the preceding year. If it continues with delays in selecting the supervisory board, Trepca will go towards bankruptcy”, Sadiku says.

He adds that for the fall of production in the Trepca plant, all competent institutions are announced, but that no concrete steps have been taken to get out of the situation.

Disfunctioning the Trepca Law, as well as according to the director of this nation, Ahmet Tmava, in addition to declining production has brought serious difficulties for operating as a company.

And the tripca is in the survival phase with big problems, but we're hoping things move. Workers ' health problems, age postponed, and lack of investment. He's bringing trouble. Trepca's status is currently unclear”, Tmava says.

During these 18 years, miners say they worked under very difficult conditions.

The miners' average age is 55, which is considered to be an age postponed to do a mine job.

The current workers' salaries range from 600 to 800 euros, depending on professional experience and preparation. Yet, none of them have health or vital health insurance.

Isuf Beqiri, miner at the Stantergu Mine, where he works since 1978, tells Radio Free Europe, that Trepca miners are forgotten by Kosovo institutions and that nothing is working on creating better conditions for them.

There's nothing done for us miners. A law that has been made has not yet been implemented. The situation of miners is difficult, we don't even have health insurance, since after the war we have nothing. The Kosovo government must take measures to improve the conditions of miners”, Beqiri notes.

Trepca today, within Kosovo, consists of 41 different entities, which are grouped mainly into three large complexes: in the mines with flotillas, in the industrial park in Mitrovica, and in the smelter complex.

However, much of these capacities are degraded because of lack of maintenance or lack of investments and even bad exploitation in the past.

Given all the degradation that has been done to the nation during these postwar years, field experts say the giant needs time to recover, but that this can be done with hard work and professional people.