“Mine risking closure”

30/08/2011 19:55

The entire town of Bulqize has been swept by protests and a hunger strike for more than one month, even with sporadic violence.

The miners and their families demand higher payments, but also investments from the ACR Company, for being safer and having more technical conditions.

Engineer Jorgo Kola, who has spent 30 years of his life in this mine, supports the legal mineworkers’ strike, but he underlines that the basis of this strike should be the demand for having the ACR Company open four other levels in that mine. Engineer Kola says that the chrome in the 16th level would guarantee the miners job for one other year, while ACR should have started opening the levels 17, 18, 19 and 20 a long time ago.

“They are late. They should have opened it two or three years ago. In 2012 or 2013 there will be no space to use your tools for materials. There is no more”, Kola declared.

Studies made several years ago show that the Bulqize chrome mine has 20 other levels, but Engineer Kola thinks that it really has 40, which would mean at least 3 to 4 million tons of chrome, which is ranked first in Europe for its quality.

“The private companies could continue their work for other 50 years here, and the mine is rich from this point of view. It has been dug 540 meters under the sea level, and it could be exploited for 40 levels”, Kola declared.

In the territory of the ACR Company and the levels exploited by them, there are dozens of private companies whose miners work without any plan or security measures. Years ago, these levels have had accidents that resulted with lost lives. Experts say that the reason is that they work in difficult terrain and unsafe conditions.

“They take even the chrome stalagmites, which have been left for technical safety reasons. In this aspect, they put in danger themselves and each other. By removing the upper part, the bottom part is put in danger. There should not be 100 different types of work, but only one single company that makes all the process”, Kola declared.

While the revenues of the ACR Company and other private firms were much greater, the mineworkers decided to start a hunger strike for higher payments and better working conditions.

Baki Bajraktari is one of the miners who decided to isolate himself for 29 days in the 1400 meters deep underground galleries. Today he is together with his family, but with health problems.

“My friends removed me from the mine. I have acute rheumatism. I have had problems with my heart and my stomach”, Bajraktari says.

“We demand better working conditions. A Minister cannot open and close galleries with a signature, only to thicken their pockets”, he adds.

The protest will restart this Wednesday, but the town today is calm and silent. This is the fasting month for the Muslim devotees, while for the Bulqize miners it is the month of the long protests. Although emotionally troubled and with empty pockets, they say that they will celebrate Fitr Bayram with their family.

Bulqize looks like those hidden and lost towns, totally in function of the rich chrome mine. A mine that barely keeps alive thousands of mineworkers, and that gives terrible wealth to some people.

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