METE to close 80 mines throughout Albania

TIRANA, Monday 16ؔhe Ministry of Economics, Transports, and Energy (METE) is planning to close 80 mines throughout the country within the next 3 months. Starting from now till 2011, METE will close 60 mines in the next two years and another 20 by 2011. METE experts justify the planned closures with the unproductivity of the selected mines, the old technology in use, and the fact that most of the mines are over used. The decision is not a surprise since some of the mines have already suspended activity due to lack of resources.
2008 was a hard year for the mining industry with imports and trade volume shrinking considerably both in exports and imports. The global economic crisis had its impacts with prices dropping and general production decreasing.
Closed mines will cost around 3.5 Mln EUR to the government. At the same time, METE will increase its investment fund for the remaining mines with 8 Mln EUR planned to be spent on the sector for the next three years. Also, according to METE’s strategic report, all the remaining public assets in the industry will be privatized with the hope to boost its revitalization and productivity.
Albania’s main mining outputs are chrome (one of the world’s biggest suppliers), coal, copper, etc. The sector enjoyed huge growth in the past three years, averaging a 60% growth rate, mainly through private investments. Currently 22 companies operate in the sector with 25% being foreign. Despite the global crisis, interest in the sector remains high, with Deutsche Bank a potential future investor, as geological studies keep revealing new mineral deposits throughout the territory.