President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday that Serbia will not give up its coal reserves.
“Serbia will not back away from its coal capacities, its thermal power capacities and will not abandon them. That means that miners will have a job in 10, 20 or 30 years,” he told a delegation of miners at a reception on Miners’ Day in the Presidency building. The reception was for women miners. Vucic said that 135 women are miners across Serbia which has a total of some 30,000 miners.
Miners’ Day is marked on the anniversary of the 1903 strikes at the Senjski mines when miners managed to force mine managers to give three of their own their jobs back, cut working hours and provide free oil for their lamps.
Serbia has pledged to reduce its carbon emission levels to meet European Union standards which includes reducing or abandoning coal as fuel to produce power and heat.
Vucic said that he believes that mining is an industrial branch which is growing in Serbia. “Many countries are facing shortages of electricity and gas and a dramatic hike in prices on the global market,” he said and added that Serbia is keeping track of the energy needs of the economy and the population which, he said, is why miners are important.
He recalled that the Chinese Zijin Copper Serbia accounts for 1.9 percent of the GDP and is expected to raise that to 3.5 percent of the GDP. Vucic said that the state will try to raise salaries in the Kolubara, Kostolac and Resavica mines and keep them operating but added that huge problems face the Senjski and Ibarski mines.