Austrian company’s mining permit partially suspended

TIRANA, July 21 – The licence of an Austrian owned company operating the Bulqiza mine, whose workers have been on a strike for more than two weeks demanding wage increases and safer working conditions, has been partially suspended. The decision was taken by Economy Minister Nasip Naco after a working group set up by the ministry identified problems on working conditions risking employees’ safety and health and damaging the environment. “The partial suspension of the mining permit of the Albanian Chrome Sh.p.k. (DCM DECOmetal’s Albanian arm) is in effect only for Zone D and will continue until the deficiencies found there are addressed,” the Economy Ministry said in a statement. The minister has also decided to declare as invalid all the sub-contracts the Albanian Chrome Company has agreed for Zone D. When work resumes in that section of the Bulqize mine in northern Albania, it will be conducted by the concession holder DCM DECOmetal, not a subcontractor, upon approval of a detailed technical project and meeting the listed conditions. The review came after some of the 700 miners at Bulqiza brought their strike action, which has shut down DCM DECOmetal’s operation for two weeks, to Tirana, blaming minister Naco for not stepping in to secure the further development of the mine. The strike was the first for DCM DECOmetal Gmbh, which took full control of the Bulqiza concession in 2007. It has grown into an integrated producer of ferrochrome, producing 3,000 tonnes a month. It is Albania’s biggest employer. The company said on Tuesday it would raise wages provided miners first halted their strike after it agreed to a 10 percent raise last weekend, half of what miners are seeking. Since 2007, when Albanian Chrome owned by Austria’s DCM DECOmetall GmbH signed a concession agreement with the Albanian government, it has invested 42 million euros in the Bulqiza mine and the ferro-chrome plant. Medat Zogu, the director of the Albanian Chrome ACR said recently that the biggest investments have been carried out in the Elbasan ferrochrome smelter and the Bulqiza mine which employs around 700 workers, being the main employer in the poor northern town. Despite being in operation for the past 64 years, the Bulqiza mine is estimated to have 3 million tonnes of reserves. The company is currently working at four meters underground but its plans are to dig 204 metres below the sea level. The privately owned company has grown into an integrated producer of ferrochrome and Albania’s biggest producer and employer in the metals industry since 2007, when it bought a 20-to-30-year concession in Bulqize, the country’s biggest chrome mine.