The Mineral Industry of Macedonia has registered decrease by 16.8% in the period January-November, compared to the same period last year.
There was a product growth in non-metallic mineral production. Mining sector requires the adoption of a strategy to support this industry, but also to solve the problem of illegal excavations. The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Economy are responsible for this issue. Nikolajco Nikolov, the president of the Macedonian Mining Association said that people are misusing raw materials. It also affects the activity within construction industry where there is no control over the quality of materials that are used.
Although mining has been developing for the last ten years, numerous concessions issued for geological excavations and extraction of mineral raw materials have contributed to the exponential growth. During the past 40 years, no new facility for the mining excavation and processing of raw materials has been opened, on the other hand, despite the frequent reactions of the mining sector there are quarries at small distances, which have negative impact not only on environment, but on the economy as well.