Page:U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MINERALS YEARBOOK THE MINERAL INDUSTRIES OF THE BALKANS 9401000.pdf/3

 smelted in Mostar. Lead and zinc ore has been produced at Olovo and Vares, but the mining status of these operations was uncertain in 2000. Iron ore production was centered at Jablanica and Vares, and that of manganese ore, at Bosanska Krupa.

The FBC was the only producer of steel in Bosnia and Herzegovina. BH Steel Co. Zenica produced pig iron and carbon steel; additional cold-rolled steel and pipe was produced at Unis in Sarajevo. In 2000, major activities in the steel sector included a contract awarded to Danieli SpA of Italy by BH Steel to supply a new 100-t electric arc furnace and to modernize an existing light section mill.

The FBC also had exploitable resources of barite, gypsum, magnesite, and rock salt. The levels of output of these as well as other mineral commodities, however, were not fully clear in 2000.

In the RS, industrial production increased by 5.6% in 2000 compared with that of 1999. The increase was buoyed largely by an 8.6% increase in the output of raw materials, of which nonferrous metals and base chemicals reportedly recorded the largest increase in production (Köhl, 2001). All branches of the minerals industry (mining to semimanufactures), however, represented about 20% of total industrial output.

Bauxite deposits of regional importance were worked at Vlasenica and Zvornik in the eastern RS and near Banja Luka in the northwestern RS. Although the RS was not a producer of aluminum, alumina was refined at Zvornik for export. Lead and zinc were mined at Srebrenica. Substantial deposits of nickel also had been worked at the Vardiste Mines near Visegrad. Although complete data on mineral production have been scarce, the latest data (1998) on capacity utilization suggest a low level of production within the minerals industry sector of the RS. In ferrous metals mining and beneficiation, nonferrous metals mining, and nonferrous metals production, capacity utilization amounted to about 20%, 5%, and 8%, respectively. Capacity utilization for total downstream metalworking amounted to about 61%. Capacity utilization in industrial minerals mining and processing had fallen to about 14% and 3%, respectively. In the cement, concrete, and sand production branches, capacity utilization amounted to 24%. Coal production and petroleum-refining branches reported having attained capacity utilization levels of 59% and 26%, respectively (U.S. Agency for International Development, 2000b, p. 48–54).

The modernization and privatization of the mineral industries in both halves of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the establishment of reliable markets continue to be essential for their long-term viability.

Petroleum production and refining remained the chief components of Croatia's minerals industry. Small quantities of ferrous and nonferrous metals and industrial minerals were produced, mainly for domestic needs.

In 2000, following a year of economic stagnation, Croatia's GDP grew by 3.5%, and industrial production, by about 1.7%. The total value of output of the mining and quarrying sector increased by 1.8%, of which the value of petroleum output increased by 2%. The output of petroleum refinery products, base metals, and processed industrial minerals rose by 5.4%, 4.4%, and 4.1%, respectively.

Major activities in the oil and gas sector included the Government's plan to privatize Croatia's state-owned oil company Industrija Nafte d.d. Zagreb (INA) in 2002. INA operated domestic oilfields and gasfields southeast of Zagreb near the Hungarian border and along the Adriatic coast. The country's primary source of petroleum came from imports via the Adria pipeline that runs from Omisalj on the Adriatic coast toward Sisak (refinery) to the east and then northward towards Hungary. About two-thirds of the crude oil consumed by Croatia was imported from oilfields that INA operated under contract in Angola, Egypt, and Russia. New offshore Adriatic deposits were under development and exploitation through a joint venture with ENI of Italy (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 2001, p. 13). Also, INA's Sisak refinery began to ship petroleum refinery products to Serbia and Montenegro in October shortly after the cancellation of the international embargo. Other developments involved Jadranski Naftovod, d.d. Zagreb (JANAF), in which INA held a 38% stake. In October, JANAF and Russia concluded an agreement that called for Yukos of Russia to participate in the modernization of the Adria pipeline and its linkage with Yukos's Druzhba pipeline, which supplies Central Europe with petroleum. The project would allow Yukos to transport crude petroleum to the port of Omisajl in Croatia for loading onto tankers (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 2001b, p. 13).

Croatia's production of metals was based mainly on domestic and imported secondary raw materials. With the exception of crude steel, the output of which fell by nearly 8%, the production of aluminum semimanufactures (output of primary aluminum declined slightly) and ferroalloys registered recovery in 2000. Ferroalloy (ferrochromium) production resumed following a break in output in 1999.

Jadranska Zelejzara Split on the Adriatic coast and SP MK Zeljezare Sisak d.d. in Sisak composed the country's steel industry. Major activities in the iron and steel industry in 2000 included a contract Jadranska awarded to Voest Alpine Industrieanlagenbau of Austria to modernize Jadranska's operations. The renovation of Jadranska would cost about $10 million and include the installation of a new electric arc furnace, a two-stand Concast billet caster, and a rolling mill. The new electric arc furnace, which would replace two older furnaces, was scheduled for startup in September 2001 and would have a design capacity of 81,000 t/yr. Total steel production capacity at Jadranska was to be about 170,000 t/yr (Metal Bulletin, 2000a). Other issues in the steel industry involved the European Union's (EU) imposition of a definitive 23% duty on imports of Croatian seamless pipe and tube in response to findings of dumping by the European Commission. This measure replaced the imposition of a provisional 31.2% duty by the EU in 1999 (Burgert, 2000).

There was a rise in output in the industrial minerals sector. The cement industry, which helped drive the quarrying of industrial minerals used in construction saw production increase by more than 3% compared with that of 1999. Foreign investment by a United Kingdom-based consortium in Dalmacija Cement, which amounted to $48.01 million, mainly was earmarked to convert operations from fuel oil to coal and petroleum-based coke.

The outlook for Croatia's economy and minerals industry, as well as for that of the other republics of the former Yugoslavia, is captive to political and social stabilization in the region. THE MINERAL INDUSTRIES OF THE ADRIATIC BALKANS-2000