Our friend Ivo Skoric of the Balkan Pages writes:

One thing that media don't talk about much regarding Kosovo - it is always economy, stupid, behind everything.

The Serbian-majority North end of Kosovo is home to the Trepca Mine Complex - second largest deposit of coal in Europe, and the biggest lead and zinc mine in Europe - 70% of Yugoslav mining was done there, and before wars TMC accounted for 80% of Kosovo's revenues: i.e. the only really worth natural resource thing not only in Kosovo, but also in Serbia, and for that matter in former Yugoslavia is in Zvecan, near Kosovska Mitrovica. It used to have Serbian management, but workers were both Serbs and Albanians, and the 40-so mines and factories are spread both on Serbian and Albanian sides of river Ibar. It is interesting that not a single NATO bomb fell on it and one of the first orders of business of UNMIK/NATO in year 2000 was to occupy the mine complex and shut it down, presumably on environmental reasons. Now there are French and British companies interested in upgrading the old and obsolete (well they kept it closed for 8 years, didn't they) infrastructure and reap profit.

Serbs are not going to let this peacefully go to Albanians, or to French...

Ivo also provides a telling quote from a UK House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs 2001 "Fourth Report" on Kosovo:

The Trepca mine complex is one of the most important and difficult issues for the international administration in Kosovo. Depending upon which calculations are used, it employed from 10,000 to 40,000 people before the conflict in Kosovo. The complex of about 40 mines produces gold, silver, lead, zinc, and cadmium. The metallurgical, mine and other industrial facilities may, at their peak, have accounted for 80 per cent of Kosovo's economy. The complex is located in the Mitrovica region,[219] and there are major portions of the complex in both Serb-majority areas, and Albanian-majority areas. It was a significant source of hard currency earnings for Milosevic and associates. The Trepca workforce has in the past included both Kosovo Albanians and Serbs, but the management has been in the hands of Serbs since 1981-82. It has also produced significant pollution, and poses a public health risk in the Mitrovica area. Because of controversy over the emissions from Trepca, UNMIK took over the complex in August 2000. Since then Trepca's operations have been largely shut down, and Kosovo Albanian and Serb workers have been employed in cleaning up the site. The challenge now for UNMIK is to restructure the complex's operations so that it is economically viable, environmentally sound, and, as far as possible, meets the expectations of the Albanians and the Serbs. The FCO informed us that a study by independent consultants will report soon, and UNMIK's plans will be announced shortly thereafter. However, the FCO warns that "modern production methods may mean that far fewer people will be employed there in the future."