The local government of the municipality of Probishtip is faced with the most pressing issue for the residents of this mining town. For decades, the hydro tailings dam in which the waste product from the “Zletovo” lead-zinc ore mine has been deposited, has been a real threat to the health of the population. A new project documentation has been drawn up, which foresees remediation, and the procedures in the area of urbanization are nearing completion.
“There are two models of addressing the tailings dam. What was our idea, as the municipality of Probishtip, is to first enter into the rehabilitation of the very surface of the tailings dump, to solve the environmental problem, and then to enter into the second phase for the installation of photovoltaics or a photovoltaic power plant. It is a project that Probishtip will make rare not only in Macedonia, but also in the Balkans, as in a hotbed of diseases, in a tailings dam we have renewable sources of energy,” said Probishtip Mayor Dragan Anastasov.
According to Anastasov, this is a win-win situation from which the municipality and potential investors will benefit, but mostly the citizens who have been exposed to the harmful influence of heavy metal dust for years.
