Page:U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MINERALS YEARBOOK THE MINERAL INDUSTRIES OF THE BALKANS 9401000.pdf/5

 (nonmetallic) minerals, and nonferrous metals branches recorded 152%, 38%, and 7% increases in output, respectively, compared with 1999 production levels (Serbia and Montenegro Federal Statistical Office, 2001, p. 4). A comparison of output with prewar mineral production levels achieved in 1998, however, underscores a far less than full recovery.

The gross weight of mine output of lead and zinc and copper ores was 52% and 35%, respectively, below respective output levels achieved in 1998; the production of refined lead, silver, copper, and zinc, fell short by 95%, 78%, 52%, and 42%, respectively. In the nonferrous metals branch, only alumina, aluminum, and bauxite operations, which are in Montenegro, registered substantial gains compared with 1998 in terms of physical production levels, largely because of favorable treatment that was accorded to Montenegro's economy by the European Commission. Aluminum, alumina, and aluminum hydroxide were the only products that would be allowed entry into the EU from Serbia and Montenegro duty free (Metal Bulletin, 2000c). To meet prospective export opportunities, Montenegro's Podgorica smelter (managed by Glencore) announced plans to decrease idle capacity at the plant and to lower production costs (Reuters Ltd., 2000a). Such subsidiary semimanufacturing operations as rolling mills, casting plants, and other similar facilities were to be offered for sale during the year (Metal Bulletin, 2000b).

Exports of most nonferrous metals and nonferrous metal semimanufactures registered increases in 2000, albeit not at the levels of aluminum and its alloys. Major issues in the nonferrous metals industry remained centered on the Bor and the Trepca mining, beneficiation, smelting, and refining complexes for copper and lead and zinc, respectively. Rudarsko Topionicki Bazen's Bor mining, beneficiation, and smelting complex, which accounted for all of Serbia and Montenegro's mine, smelter, and refinery output of copper production, was the subject of domestic and international scrutiny and concern about the alleged smuggling of gold recovered from copper mining to foreign metals markets (Smith, 2001). Kosovo-based Rudarsko-Metalursko-Hemijski Kombinat za Olovo i Cink Trepca (Trepca), which had operated only the lead plant fed by stockpiled concentrates since resuming operation in July 1999, was seized by NATO forces. According to NATO spokespersons, the objective of the seizure was to bring the smelter into compliance with environmental regulations (Mining Journal, 2000; Reuter Ltd., 2000b). NATO authorities, however, promised to keep and pay the Trepca workforce at their current (2000) salary levels despite a modernization program that could take several years (Maguire, 2000). Trepca also had been a producer of such associated metals as antimony, bismuth, cadmium, gold, and silver.

The gross weight production, in order of processing, of crude steel, pig iron, and steel semimanufactures fell short of their 1998 production levels by 28%, 32%, and 58%, respectively. In 2000, the Yugoslav Iron and Steel Federation commissioned Usinor Consultants of France to study ways to raise the competitiveness of Serbia and Montenegro's steel industry. As part of an overall rationalization strategy, Usinor urged a rapid privatization of the Sartid AD Smederevo integrated steel mill in Serbia and Zeljezra Niksic AD in Montenegro. Near-term plans for facility expansion at Sartid also included the installation of a 150,000-t/yr galvanizing line and a new continuous caster, as well as a pulverized coal injection system in the No. 2 blast furnace. Plans at Zeljezara Niksic included the installation of a new electric arc furnace, a new continuous casting unit, and a new ladle furnace.

The situation for industrial and mineral fuels was not dissimilar to that of the metals; most commodities in 2000 were substantially below their 1998 output levels, with the exception of bentonite, brown coal, gypsum, lime, quartz sand, and salt, which showed increases. A negotiated lease by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo of the Sharr cement plant (near the Macedonian border) to Holderbank Financière Glaris Ltd. was one of the salient events in the industrial minerals branch. Under the terms of the lease, Holderbank would invest about $16.4 million in the Sharr cement plant to modernize production and to institute environmental protection and health and safety standards. The full operation of the 600,000-t/yr Sharr cement plant and attendant quarries, whose production included clay, limestone, and marl, also would help stabilize employment in the region.

At yearend, striking coal miners in Serbia helped bring about a recognition of election results by the Government. Political and economic stability in the region, however, appears to be a long-term prospect.

Slovenia's minerals industry produced a modest range and minor quantities of mineral commodities that included coal, natural gas, petroleum, and a variety of industrial minerals. The country relied heavily on imports of fossil fuels, ferrous and nonferrous ores and metals, and other mining and quarrying products.

With well-developed systems of transportation and modern telecommunications, Slovenia had one of the more technically advanced industrial bases of the republics of the former Yugoslavia. Chemicals, electronics and telecommunications, and retail were the sectors with highest rates of growth (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 2001, p. 3). In 2000, the performance of the country's economy remained positive, given the increase in the GDP of 4.25% compared with that of 1999; the total value of industrial production rose by 6.2%. The output and fabrication of metals showed combined gains in excess of 12%. The mining and quarrying share of industrial output, however, declined by 2.7%, as did that of industrial mineral products, which declined by 3.6%. Also, a substantial decline of production of processed mineral fuels (primarily coke and petroleum refinery products) was noted.

With the exception of nonferrous metals, whose value of imports continued to match that of exports, Slovenia depended heavily on imports for almost all mineral commodities. According to the latest available trade data (1999), this dependency, valued in U.S. dollars, increased for most commodity groups in 1999 compared with that of 1998. In 1999, the net value of imports of gold (nonmonetary), metal ores and scrap, and iron and steel increased by 70%, 11.5%, and 1.2%, respectively. Net imports of industrial mineral goods rose by about 5.7%. With respect to mineral fuels, the combined net import value of coal, coal briquettes, and coke increased by about 63%, but that of crude and refined petroleum declined by about 17% compared with those of 1998 (Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2000, p. 390-391).

The Government continued to promote the country's transition process to a market economy system. The Energy Act THE MINERAL INDUSTRIES OF THE ADRIATIC BALKANS-2000