At the end of last week, an engineer and four electricians agedbetween 36 and 41 were killed in the latest accident that hasoccurred in a mine of Romania, whose closure had been underdiscussion for almost a year.
The tragedy of Uricani, a mine owned by Compania Naţională aHuilei, is however bringing to the surface 20 years of failedattempts at reorganising a field that has so far swallowed uparound $6.7bn in subsidies, is generating annual losses of hundredsof million euros and debts of billions, but that is continuouslyclaiming human lives.
"In 1990-2006 the state spent $6.3bn to support the mining sector,structured along product subsidies, social protection subsidies,capital allocation for investments. In 2007-2009 state aid grantedfor the mineral coal mining industry revolved around 1bn RON andcapital allocation for lignite of 119.3m RON," Economy Ministryrepresentatives told ZF when questioned about mining restructuringcosts.
Despite these billions of dollars that were spent, coal mines arestill making victims, in the context where post-1990 statisticaldata show an accident out of three is registered in the extractionindustry alone and around 60% of total accidents in this industryoccur in Valea Jiului.
As regards Compania Naţională a Huilei, one of the biggest blackholes of the economy, its overhauling has been dragging on foryears, despite the mountain of drawn up strategies.
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