ALBANIA: As the global financial crisis affects the price of chrome, workers at an Albanian mine struggle to survive

Record ID: 560488

  • Title: ALBANIA: As the global financial crisis affects the price of chrome, workers at an Albanian mine struggle to survive
  • Date: 22nd July 2009
  • Summary: HEAP OF SCRAP / PAN TO FAMILY STANDING OUTSIDE HOUSE NEARBY
  • Embargoed: 6th August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Albania
  • Country: Albania
  • Topics: Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVAGBPTBDPQNR9HGFTK6MOWCMAN
  • Story Text: A once thriving mining town in a mineral rich region of Albania has fallen on hard times.
    The Bulqiza mine, 40 kilometres from the capital Tirana, has been producing chrome since it was first discovered there in the 1940s. In the 60 years since production began about 14 million tons of the mineral, used in the process of making stainless steel, has been extracted from the area.
    Under communist rule Albania become the world's third largest chrome producer and the biggest in Europe. Its production accounted for 37 percent of the countries GDP.
    But in recent years the chrome mining industry - and that of the Bulqiza mine - has seen a dip in its fortunes. A work force that peaked at 12,000 people in the 1980s has fallen considerably. Now the Austro-Russian firm Darku that leases the firm has only 900 employees on its books.
    The effect on the town has been equally brutal. A population that stood at 50,000 inhabitants in 1990 has since fallen to 13,000 And the global financial crisis has heaped further pain on the mine and those who rely upon it for their income.
    The price of chrome has more than halved, with unsold stock lying unused in Bulqiza's quarries.
    40-year-old mine worker Sabri Kala is under no illusion as to the damage wreaked by the financial crisis.
    "There is no work. The chrome market is down. There is no money. Of course, we do not produce because they do not buy. There is no work," Kala said.
    The town, itself a product of the mine, has been hard hit says its Vice-President Agim Perhati.
    "The world crisis has hit our town because our mine is one of the biggest chrome mines of the world. Last year the price was 500 dollars per ton and this year it is 120 dollars," Perhati said.
    And the build up of unsold stock presents more than just an economic problem for the town.
    Bulqiza resident Haki Theodhori says the piles of stock reach higher than 150 metres and despite fighting with the government and the mine operators a pile near to his house is six or seven metres high. After one near miss he is concerned about the potential danger to his home and his family.
    "One stormy night a huge rock fall on the house and it is still in the foundations of the house. You can come and see for yourself. Had it fallen to the house wall that is not thicker than 25 cm it it would have entered inside the house to the kitchen and it would have hurt my children," Theodhori said.
    Last year the chrome quarries were full of people - including children - searching for scraps of the mineral to sell but now with the fall in price their numbers too have fallen.
    Perhati insists that all workers on the site must be employed directly by the licensed firms.
    "It is the policy followed by the Ministry of Economy in giving licenses for work in the quarry that companies do not present danger to human life, and that no one can work outside the law. They can not take personal initiatives but are obliged to work under these licensed firms," he said.
    But a recent visit by Reuters Television showed children clearly searching for small bits of chrome which they hope to sell for a few cents per kilo.
    Legitimate workers at the mine are just as threatened by the price collapse as those scavenging for scraps.
    With much of last year's production sitting unsold chrome businessman Dehar Durici says he is struggling to pay his workers.
    "We started working ten days ago and with no real hope. We are hopeless. We are nothing now. We still have stock from last year's production. About 1800 tons. The price is low so is the work. The price fell from 500 dollars per ton to 120 dollars per ton this year. I have six employees and I cannot pay them," he said..
    Those who rely on the mine appear united in one hope: that the price of their once valuable commodity will return to something like its former level.
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