Nine environmental organizations from the Southeast region and other parts of the country have announced joint action against the opening of mines in that part of North Macedonia. This civic activism has awakened after several years of silence in anticipation of the court’s decision. The company that wants to open mines has been fighting a dispute before the Higher Administrative Court, which has issued a decision allowing it to mine copper and gold deposits.

Residents have been opposing the opening of mines since 2017. They point out that the region, known for its fertile soil and quality agricultural products, will suffer because the mines will seriously pollute the soil, air and water, and thus life in this area in general.

The nine environmental organizations have sent a joint request to the government demanding the permanent cancellation of the concessions for the Ilovica-Shtuka project as the only acceptable solution.

Residents opposed since 2017

The request states that in the past ten years, citizens have repeatedly publicly expressed their opposition to the opening of the mine and that the government has legal mechanisms and public support to finally close this issue. The signatories assess that the Ilovica-Shtuka project poses a threat to the environment and the health of citizens, not only in the Strumica Valley, but also in the country at large.

“It is time for the government to show whether it will defend the state or the criminal concessions. Will it stand behind the citizens from whom it also receives its right to decide and legitimacy, or behind the investors and the mining lobby. Will it stand on the side of law or on the side of power, corruption, shortsightedness and big capital. Will it make decisions in the name of the future or in the name of short-term profit for a few. Will it preserve the country for future generations or decide to sacrifice it for immediate profit,” say the environmental organizations.

The government’s viewpoint

The current government believes that this issue is not the result of its own decisions, but rather an inherited legal situation arising from the decisions to merge the concessions made in June 2023, as well as from the subsequent decisions to terminate them made just one month later, in July 2023, after which legal proceedings were initiated before the competent courts.

In its address to the public on the occasion of the decision of the Higher Administrative Court, the government emphasized that its priority is the creation of conditions for economic growth, new investments and job creation, but never at the expense of the health of citizens, natural resources and the environment. The protection of the public interest, respect for the highest environmental standards and the complete legality of the procedures remain principles from which the government will not deviate.

“We are aware that some citizens, local populations and civil society organizations have justified questions and concerns related to this project. That is why the government will continue to fully and transparently review all relevant facts, expert opinions and arguments, within the framework of legal procedures and institutional competencies,” the government stated.

Environmental organizations emphasize that their sole goal is to stop the Ilovica-Shtuka project and call on all environmental and civil society organizations, as well as citizens, regardless of political affiliation, to support their demand.

From 2004 to 2012, an American-Bulgarian company conducted research at a location one kilometer from the Strumica villages of Ilovica and Shtuka. Mining in the area was then entrusted to a larger Anglo-Canadian company based in London, which announced investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Ilovica over the next three decades.

Saving the Strumica Valley

The citizens’ revolt is so widespread that several environmental associations have been formed, such as Zdrava Kotlina in Strumica, Eco Dolina in Novo Selo, and the civil initiative “Save Strumica Valley – Stop the Mine of Death” in Strumica.

For a decade, they have been convincing various central-level authorities that a mine will bring more negative consequences and environmental damage than possible benefits.

“The purification of minerals with water will cause groundwater pollution and a dam will be built where the tailings (the materials remaining after the separation of the precious mineral fraction) will be stored, polluting the existing artificial lake from which water is drawn for irrigation of the fields and which supplies drinking water to the surrounding villages, and which is located approximately halfway between the mine and the villages,” Gjorgi Tanushev, a representative of the environmental organization “Zdrava Kotlina”, told OBCT in 2022.

The company “Euromax Resources” believes that, as a foreign direct investment, the mine will have a significant impact on the national economy, and is publishing content on local media in order to convince the public of the benefits – 1,500 jobs, 2,700 through associates and suppliers, a long-term investment of 340 million euros, an increase in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 3%.