Mineral concessions brought in 1.22 billion denars in 2025, more than double the figure for 2024
According to the ministry, the reasons are higher tariffs and stricter oversight. According to Racin, 78 percent of the fee goes to municipalities, but the spending is hard to verify.
On October 30 the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources announced that the collection of concession fees in 2025 exceeded 1.2 billion denars, more than double the 2024 figure. The statement was carried by Lokalno, Libertas, Lider, MKD.MK, Biznisvesti, Vecer and others. Because the data comes from the ministry, it has not been independently verified. Below is an overview in question-and-answer form.
How much was collected? For 2024 the collection was about 561.5 million denars, and for 2025 about 1.222 billion denars, or more than 660 million higher. According to Racin, mining companies paid exactly 1,223,455,203 denars in 2025. In the first six months of 2026 another almost 574 million denars were collected.
What has changed? The ministry links the rise to the new Tariff of January 1, 2025: for metallic mineral resources the fee was raised from 2 to 4 percent, and for marble from 1 to 5 percent. 53 terminated concession contracts are recorded, and the period is not stated. Inspection capacity was strengthened with three additional inspectors in 2026. A Strategy for 2026–2046 with an action plan for 2026–2030 was also adopted.
What is proposed? A new legal framework with financial coverage of 100 percent of the estimated costs of managing mining waste, compared with about one third now. That would be roughly three times stricter. The ministry published registers of concessions and a list of revoked concessions.
How much of the money goes to municipalities? According to Racin, 78 percent of the collected fee is revenue of the municipality where the extraction takes place. For 2025 that is about 954.3 million denars, or about 15.5 million euros. The legal basis is not given in the text. It is also not stated what share belongs to the state, or how the remaining 22 percent is distributed.
What are the examples? For the “Bučim” mine, 181.75 million denars were distributed in 2025 to Konče, Štip and Radoviš, of which about 44.55 million to Radoviš. Makedonska Kamenica received 178.46 million denars in 2025 and 399.25 million in 2023–2025. Kriva Palanka has a total of 102.6 million denars for 2023–2025. Makedonska Kamenica, Radoviš, Probištip and Kriva Palanka together recorded at least 293.2 million denars in 2025.
How big is the sector? According to Racin, mining accounts for 10.9 percent of industrial production and 2.8 percent of exports. 130,174 tonnes of copper, lead and zinc concentrate were produced.
Can it be checked what the money is spent on? With difficulty. Municipalities enter concession revenue into the general budget, so the final accounts do not show which projects were paid with mining money. The claim that 78 percent is returned to the development of mining communities therefore cannot be fully verified from municipal budgets. The ministry announces a new strategy and laws with greater transparency, and an obligation for municipalities to publish each year how much they received from each mine and how they spent it is possible.
Why does it matter now? The topic of mines and concessions was also part of the parliamentary questions on October 29. The ministry’s figures give a basis for debate, but they show collection, not what citizens in mining municipalities receive.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 31, 2026
