Croatia - Mining

Aside from petroleum, the chief minerals industry, Croatia produced small quantities of ferrous and nonferrous metals and industrial minerals, mainly for domestic needs. In 2000, the output of base metals rose by 4.4%, the cement industry, which helped drive the quarrying of industrial minerals, grew by more than 3%, and the total value of output of the mining and quarrying sector increased by 1.8%. Production of clays, lime, nitrogen, pumice, stone, and sand and gravel satisfied most of Croatia's demand for construction materials; the importance of industrial minerals was expected to grow with continued postwar reconstruction. Estimated mineral production in 2000 included cement, 2.85 million tons; salt, processed at Pag Island, 33,668 tons; bentonite, 10,013 tons; gypsum, 150,765 tons; and quartz, quartzite, and glass sand, 95,636 tons. Bauxite production dropped to zero, from 1,500 tons of 1996. Prior to the breakup of Yugoslavia, Croatia was the federation's chief producer of natural gas and petroleum, and a leading producer of iron and steel. The minerals sector was heavily hurt by the 1991–92 war, which damaged facilities, affected the market for raw materials, and disrupted normal commercial activities; the outlook remained captive to political and social stabilization in the region.