The Trepça Mines (Albanian: Miniera e Trepçës, Serbian: Рудник Трепча / Rudnik Trepča) is a large industrial complex in Kosovo, located 9 km (5.6 mi) northeast of Mitrovica.

But the heart of its operations, and the source of most of its raw material, is the vast mining complex to the east of Mitrovica in the north of Kosovo, famous since Roman times.

Mines are categorized according to their geographic location: This is all that remains of the huge complex that during the 1980s employed 20,000 workers, and accounted for 70% of all Yugoslavia's mineral wealth.

With the collapse of the Roman Empire and Slavic migrations, mining activity decreased leading to closure until the late Medieval Era (1000–1492).

The long history of the successive influxes of the Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian, Albanian and Turkish people helps explain the cultural mixing and the legacies of old grievances which underlie the chaos of the 1990s.

As Stari Trg was one of the Europe's richest mines of lead, zinc, silver and gold, King Milutin set a coin mint there, which was operational for over a century.

[9][11] As with the others mines in the Medieval Serbia (Brskovo, Rudnik, Janjevo, Novo Brdo), a square town developed around Trepča.

Prime minister Nikola Pašić, who became the concessionary of the Stari Trg ore deposits, hired Fran Tućan[15] [16] to do the explorations.

[9] In 1925 a big exploration program was carried out by the British company, Selection Trust, which assessed the huge potential of the ore deposit and acquired the concession in 1926.

[20] After the German-lead Invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, most of what is today Kosovo was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy but the area around Trepča was part of the German-installed Serbian state.

The mines were under the direct German administration, allowing the continued flow of minerals for the production of ammunition and submarine batteries.

[24] The strike quickly gained support in Slovenia and Croatia, while in Belgrade protests were held against the Slovenian, Albanian and Croatian demands for decentralization.

It eventually ended after the hospitalization of 180 miners and the resignation of the heads of the pro-Milošević leaders Rahman Morina, Ali Šukrija and Husamedin Azemi.

[24] This complex progressively collapsed during the last fifteen years, for reasons such as outdated installations; neglect and lack of maintenance, repair, and reinvestment; absence of control over production; robbery of equipment and workshops,[26] and "Milosevic apparatchik" mine manager Novak Bjelic.

[8] UNMIK inherited a large problem through its trusteeship of the assets, and in February 2002, Bjelic suffered from criminal court proceedings brought by the UNMIK-installed management board.

After the forces of FR Yugoslavia withdrew from Kosovo in 1999, the chaos ensued in the period during the takeover by KFOR and UNMIK, a military and a civilian administration, respectively.

UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner personally asked for the documentation on the ownership of Trepča, but he wasn't authorized to take over the stock company, which French newspaper Le Monde wrote about at the time.

General Nash then claimed that Trepča needs to be closed because of the environmental pollution, though French minister for environment, Dominique Voynet concluded that there is no danger for the surroundings.

Expecting military takeover, the management "fortified" the complex with goods wagons, locomotives and slag, while it was lit with powerful reflector lights, looking like a "space ship".

[19] The Trepča mining complex is derelict in a failing state that has immense potential, but has so far been ignored by serious investors for myriad reasons.

Since financial means to upgrade the mines’ facilities themselves are absent, and there is not enough foreign aid still reaching Kosovo to make a difference, the complex still will not be used at its highest level.

The concern that letting in foreign investors will give away their promising source of natural resources since the complex is considered a treasure for the nation needs to be appeased in order for its privatization to happen sooner.

In the following years, certain legislation like a new mining law and regulations for investment incentives, will support privatization efforts if approved in order for the complex to work and be used at its highest level.

Partly due to its murky ownership structure and numerous creditor claims with a draft law, but fearing bankruptcy and liquidation then the government changed this decision, then approved a special draft law except which includes two new articles those for completion changes according to which certain social enterprise could become public by decision of the Assembly.

[36][37] On 24 October 2023, miners at the Trepča mining complex began a strike to protest worsening working conditions and alleged inaction by management.

The workers' demands included timely salary payments, improved working conditions, and the removal of current management.

Kosovo’s Economy Ministry called for the miners to resume work and highlighted recent improvements, including a 17% wage increase, a 23% rise in overtime pay, and nearly doubled food allowances in 2023.

[38] The strike ended on 3 November after the miners, MPs from the ruling Vetevendosje party and the Ministry of Economy reached a deal.