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The war-torn region of Kosovo in the Balkans has a long and involved history of mining. Over the years the world-famous Trepca mine has yielded millions of tons of lead and zinc as well as thousands of tons of silver and bismuth. More than 60 mineral species have been identified from the deposit. Minerals that have reached the specimen market include countless thousands of fine specimens of sulfides such as pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite and galena, associated with well-crystallized quartz, dolomite, vivianite, ludlamite, calcite and rhodochrosite. The Trepca mine has just reopened, and the associated Trepca mining and mineral museum is also coming back to life, but needs urgent help from international funding institutions.
INTRODUCTION
The famous old Trepca (pronounced "Trep-cha" or "Trept-sha") lead-zinc mine lies near Stari Trg village in Trepca Valley, Kosovo, in me middle of die Balkans. Since 1999, Kosovo has been under die interim administration of the United Nations. It is a landlocked, very small territory (11,000 km^sup 2^, one-fiftieth the size of France), bordered by Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Serbia proper. Kosovo is "looking for a common European future and the country's political climate is now stable, safe and strong" (Ceku, 2005), but life there nevertheless is hard; the Gross Domestic Product is only 1,000 Euros per person. The people of Kosovo are proud and hard-working, and they have a long mining tradition. They are doing their best to restart the economy of Kosovo, and particularly to revive their mines, most of which were flooded or otherwise rendered inactive during the war. These mines are now open to foreign capital, and their potential is great-particularly die Trepca mine, with its famous mining and mineralogical museum.
The United Nations currently considers the official Kosovo name of the mine to be "Trepca, Stan Terg." The previous name of the mine under Serbian administration was Trepca, Stari Trg, which is the designation still used in all the mineralogical treatises and museums of the world. Therefore, both terms will be used in this article.
HISTORY
The history of the Trepca mine and of the surrounding region is long and rich, and culminates in me etimologic-political-economic imbroglio which has resulted from the recent war. In attempting to understand the present confusion it would be wise...