📋 Tender Overview
The exploitation of mineral resources in the Konjiska gora quarry has been taking place since 1979, when a permit for exploitation was issued under the mining legislation in force at the time.The mining project from 1979, including the location documentation (LD) annex to the LD of 18. 5. 1979, stipulates that exploitation is permitted on precisely defined plots and within the prescribed angles - the lowest to the angle of 380 and the highest to the angle of 445, while advancing in a southwesterly direction. In 1999, the Mining Act was adopted, which introduced the obligation to pay a concession fee on the basis of the concluded concession agreement. The company KONGRAD doo thus concluded a concession agreement with the Republic of Slovenia on 10 December 2001, together with two subsequent amendments, the last of which was signed on 3 September 2024 on the basis of the Act on Intervention Measures to Prevent Harmful Consequences in the Extension of Mining Rights and Concessions. Procedures and negotiations related to the rehabilitation of the Konjiska gora quarry have been ongoing since at least 2006. Several inspection procedures established that a municipal detailed spatial plan (OPPN) is being prepared for the area and that the company has submitted an application for the extension of the mining right under Article 50 of the Mining Act and for the acquisition of a new mining right, which includes the obligation to carry out rehabilitation in accordance with the terms of the OPPN. The company has already been issued several decisions in the past prohibiting the implementation of mining works, namely the prohibition of mining works above an elevation of 445, the prohibition below an elevation of 380 and the prohibition of exploitation outside the boundaries of the extraction area, as specified in the Mining Book and the mining project. On 7 July 2023, the company KONGRAD submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning for the conclusion of a second amendment to the concession agreement, which in content represents a proposal for the extension of the concession under the Emergency Act. The Ministry rejected the application on 7 February 2024, on the basis of which the Mining Inspectorate initiated an inspection procedure. In this procedure, a decision was issued on 28 May 2024, permanently prohibiting the liable party from carrying out mining works in the Konjiska gora extraction area and ordering it to submit an application for early, complete and permanent cessation of mining works within eight days. The liable party appealed against the decision of 28 May 2024, and on 13 January 2025 the second-instance body annulled the decision and returned the case for a new decision. In the meantime, the liable party obtained an extension of the concession for 30 months, i.e. until 10 December 2025, pursuant to the Act on Intervention Measures to Prevent Harmful Consequences in the Extension of Mining Rights and Concessions. During the period when the KONGRAD company did not have a valid concession, no mineral raw material was exploited in the Konjiska gora quarry. The liable party only carried out enrichment and separation of the raw material that it brought to the location from the Brinova gora quarry. In the meantime, on the basis of the intervention law, it obtained an extension of the concession for 30 months, i.e. until 10 December 2025. This year, the Mining Inspection of the Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia for Natural Resources and Spatial Planning received several reports relating to evening operations in the quarry, the appearance of smoke, alleged damage to state property and illegal exploitation of raw materials, and the implementation of mining. Based on these reports, a new inspection procedure was introduced on 30 June 2025, which has not yet been completed. After the procedure is completed, the applicants will be informed of the measures taken, in accordance with Article 24 of the Inspection Procedure Act.
