Eight illegal gold mines along the Struma River have been inspected by the Ministry of Energy

Eight illegal mines for industrial gold mining along the Struma River in the Kyustendil region have been inspected by the energy ministry. It was carried out following an investigation by bTV. After the reports we showed you and after the inspection of the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office, in those places where there were machines and equipment and gold was mined about a week ago, now the equipment is gone.

There is an attempt to erase the traces of the activity they performed - the traces of the chain equipment that was working were buried. There was also a van on site that appeared to be operating the equipment in question. They, of course, denied doing that. The prosecutor's office instructed the Ministry of Energy to check whether gold is mined here.

At this place, along the river Struma, 10 days ago there was an open pit excavated and gold was mined. Without permission and concession. The people we found on the spot denied having anything to do with mining and equipment.

A total of 8 such vast terrains are known along the Struma River. Everyone no longer has people and equipment, and 10 days ago our team saw how gold is mined there. Following bTV's investigation into illegal gold mining, prosecutors ordered the energy ministry to investigate the case.

"It turned out that out of 8 inspected places known to us so far, 7 are completely leveled. There is only one place left, which creates memories that there were some excavations. No faces in any of the places checked last week. Most of them have been leveled, one excavation has remained, which has not been leveled, "explained Stanislav Stankov, director of the Natural Resources, Concessions and Control Directorate of the Ministry of Energy.

Asked whether it was possible to establish who carried out this activity, Stankov answered that, unfortunately, violations of this type of activity are difficult to establish.

"Which makes it difficult for us to follow up and engage in administrative and criminal liability, given that it is difficult to establish. All inspections reveal equipment, people, but it is difficult to catch during the immediate extraction, but these activities were incriminated in 2017, "he added.

The technique with which gold is extracted is without a number, if the authorities do not catch a person, to operate with it immediately, the acts fall in court, because the people on the spot say that they are there by accident.

"Based on the excavations we saw, this is an industrial extraction. There is no legal concession, this is a long-explored deposit for loose gold, they say. According to the geological report, according to the data we have 0.2 grams per cubic meter of land mass, "said Stankov.

According to locals, the old surveys are current and inaccurate, and the gold rush along the Struma River proves that much larger quantities are mined there.

The consequences of gold mining to the Struma River remain. The lake, which is located between the rivers Struma and Dragovishtitsa, is artificially created by the people who perform this activity. The water is drained in the dug hole. How much gold is mined here on the spot - there is no way to know, because mining studies here were made in the 80s of last century and are not up to date.

They are for other places than here, where gold mining is now taking place, so if the people who carried out this activity are not identified, if they themselves do not admit it, there is no way to know how much gold there is actually along the Struma river.