According to Ivan Andreev, the executive director of Bulgarian mining chamber BMGK, mineral resource production in the country fell by 7% on year in 2012, equivalent to a drop of 6.28 million tonnes.
Most mining sub-sectors saw declines in output, with the exception of natural stone materials, which was up by 10%, and metallic mineral resources, which rose by 1%.
Total mineral resource production for 2012 reached 85.654 million tonnes.
Total value of production rose by 7.1% to reach BGN 2.97 billion (€1.52 billion) although coal mining posted poor results for the first half of 2013 and other sectors remained flat on year during the period.