The Federal Government contacted a large multinational company from Dubai, which is also interested in taking “Aluminij”.
They have already announced their arrival in Sarajevo for the middle of next week. The meeting will be held with representatives of the Government of FBiH on Thursday, July 4th.
The mining giant “Aluminum” has until Wednesday agreed delivery of electricity from “Elektroprivreda HZHB” (EPHZHB), to which it owes 280 million BAM. This means that an agony in the firm that employs 1,000 workers is being prolonged and threatened with bankruptcy because of its million debts.
At the FBiH Government meeting between “Aluminum” and EPHZHB, there was no agreement to buy electricity for a period of several months. Earlier, the agreement between these two companies was conceived for six months, but ceased on July 3rd.
The one of the ways that “Aluminij” does not stop production is to buy electricity daily, but with clear bank guarantees that it will pay the agreed delivery. This is now just surviving for a shorter period and without a strategic partner firms, a total collapse is threatening to Aluminij.
For now, there has been no change in the views of the Swiss “Glencore”, which announced the takeover of the Mostar company. They are still asking that the Federal Government in turn provide for the purchase of electricity at a lower price.
And yesterday, the leaders of “Glencore” confirmed in the headquarters of the FBiH the same position. They wanted electricity at 25 to 44 euros per megawatt hour, which is unacceptable for the Government, Biznis Info reports.
Aluminij Mostar d.d., an aluminium smelter based in Bosnia & Herzegovina, celebrated this year twenty years since restarting production in 1997, after being severely damaged in the Bosnian war (1992-1995). But few had any reason to be cheerful: the smelter is going through an existential crisis that could very well seal its fate. Blighted by what is Europe’s highest electricity price, crippled by mounting debt and faced with declining appetite on the part of the Bosnian government to further support the plant, will Aluminij survive its bleakest moment since the Bosnian war?
