Western Balkans Environment Programe

Bucim, located in the mountainous area of Radovis Municipality, approximately 125 kilometres southeast of city of Skopje, Macedonia – The Mine “Bucim” is listed as one of the environmentally hazardous hotspots.  Its uncontrolled toxic waste outflows into the groundwater and neighbouring surface water bodies, un-reclaimed waste rock, dust and tailings, industrial emissions, and other poorly disposed mining waste materials have created environmentally hazardous conditions for residents and ecosystems in the local areas, and living along various water bodies into which the toxins from Bucim have been discharged. Those environmentally hazardous toxins have also reached neighbouring Bulgaria and Greece through rivers and streams to cause cross-border environmental pollution issues in recent years. 

The proposed intervention under this programme are based on the Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the Mine “Bucim” prepared in June 2006 and are aimed at addressing the historical pollution and prevention of the future pollution in two main respects: 1) by designing a system for collection and treatment of the waters from the mining zone, the tailing pond and the waste-rock dump, thus eliminating the pollution of Topolnicka River and further downstream rivers Bregalnica and Vardar; 2) undertaking measures for protection of air, i.e. approximately 30 ha of the tailing dump will be re-cultivated with  the classical methods that include covering the tailings with soil and manual planting of the vegetation.