$20 mln investment to increase production in Bulqiza mine

TIRANA, July 1 – The AlbChrome Bulqiza mine concessionaire has undertaken a $20 million well drilling investment in the country’s biggest chromium mine in an effort to extract 2.1 million tons of chromium from this well, says the energy and industry ministry.
China’s Wenzhou Mining Co Ltd has been contracted by the concessionaire, which since early 2013 has been taken over by an Albanian company, to complete the 600-metre drilling in 20 months.
Energy and Industry Minister Damian Gjiknuri said the drilling of the new well brings up new opportunities, increasing the mine’s life expectancy by another 20 years.
The investment comes after the Energy Ministry decided in late 2013 to partially suspend operations in the Bulqiza mine, the country’s biggest chromium mine, after an inspection group unveiled problems with safety at works and lack of investments.
Balfin Group, owned by Albanian businessman Samir Mane, is the biggest operator in the Bulqiza mine. In early 2013, Balfin acquired the ACR Albanian subsidiary of Austria-based DCM Decometal which had been operating the Bulqiza chromium mine since 2007 for an undisclosed amount. The mine had been previously managed by Italy’s Darfo.
The Bulqiza mine employs 660 people and currently has an annual output of 82,000 tonnes of the lumpy ore and fines, at a grade of 40-45 percent chromite.
Working conditions in the Bulqiza mines remain poor despite several concession companies taking over the country’s biggest mine. Dozens of miners have died while strikes on better working conditions and wages have often suspended work in the mine.
Several other smaller licensed or unlicensed companies operate in Bulqiza.
Back in 2011, Austrian-owned Albanian Chrome company which operated the Bulqiza mine was fined Lek 56 million (Euro 400,000, USD 560,000) for failing to make compulsory investments under the concession contract it has with the Albanian government. The decision by the Energy Ministry came few days after Albanian Chrome, the Albanian arm of Austrian miner DCM DECOmetal had its mining licence partially suspended and when more than a dozen miners had gone on a hunger strike in an underground gallery demanding a 20 percent wage increase and safer working conditions. “Controls carried out by the National Natural Resources Agency show that Albanian Chrome invested USD 3.09 million during the 2007-2008 period in the Bulqiza chromium mine at a time when investments should have been at USD 3.4 million under the contract signed with the Ministry of Trade and Energy,” said the ministry in a statement. Earlier this year, the Energy and Industry Ministry says it has initiated revocation procedures on some 121 mining permits over legal violations.
Data by the customs administration show some 7.9 billion lek (Euro 55 million) was collected in mining royalties in 2013, up from 5.9 billion lek (Euro 41 million) in 2012 and around 3.6 billion lek (Euro 25 million) in 2011.
Since 1994, when a new mining law was approved soon after the communist system collapsed, Albanian mines have been explored by private companies under mining permits and concessions.
Albania has around 390 million tonnes of unexplored oil reserves, some 3 billion m3 of natural gas, 740 million tonnes of coals, 32 million tonnes of chrome, and hundreds of tones of other iron-ore and copper reserves, proving the country’s rich mineral reserves despite the small territory it occupies. The findings are revealed in the latest mineral resources map of Albania, an updated version of 1971 and 1989 publications during the country’s communist regime.