This database covers information for all 378 ongoing concession agreements on detailed geology research and exploitation of mineral resources. In that, concessions have been awarded for 73 types of mineral resources and cover locations in total area of around 390 km2.

The group of mineral resources includes from coal, limestone and marble, through mineral waters and thermal waters, to copper and clay.

Companies that were awarded concessions pay two types of fees for utilization of mineral resources. First, they pay annual fee for concessions awarded, whereby the annual amount collected for all active concessions accounts for total of 60 million MKD, i.e. around 1 million EUR. Second, they are responsible for payment of individual fee in compliance with the Tariff List based on the quantity of exploited resources grouped in five categories (energy mineral resources, metal mineral resources, technogenic mineral resources, non-metal mineral resources and waters). In particular, this fee is established on per ton basis, as share of market value or in absolute amount. The database can be browsed according to two parameters (filters): concession holder and mineral resource. In that, both filters can be cross-referenced to see if certain companies appear as concession holders of particular mineral resource.

Among total of 285 concession holders for mineral resources, 51 companies have been awarded more than one concession. At the top of this list is the construction company GRANIT and cement factory USJE, each with 9 concession agreements. In that, GRANIT has six concession agreements for limestone, two for diabase and one for basalt, while cement factory USJE has three concession agreements for limestone and marl each, and one concession for sand, brecciated opal and quartz sand each. Third ranked is PE State Roads with eight concession agreements, four of which have been awarded for sand and gravel, three for limestone and one for diabase. The infographic below shows all companies with several concession agreements.

At the moment, the biggest concession location is used by JSC ELEM for the needs of MEC Bitola and MEC Oslomej, i.e. coal excavation sites in Suvodol, Brod – Gneotino and Oslomej. Total area of these locations accounts for 29.6 km2 and JSC Macedonian Power Plants pays annual concession fee in the amount of 7.1 million MKD, i.e. 115 thousand EUR. Second-ranked according to concession location is Euromax Resources as holder of two concession agreements for copper and gold, in total area of 18.8 km2 on the location Ilovica. The annual concession fee paid by Euromax Resources for this location amounts to 3.4 million MKD, i.e. around 55 thousand EUR. Locations with an area of more than 10 km2 are used by companies GRANIT and BULMAK 2016.

According to the type of mineral resource, the highest number of concession agreements has been awarded for limestone (99), followed by sand and gravel (46) and third-ranked is quartz (with 22 concession agreements). In general, it could be concluded that more than one concession agreements on detailed geology research and exploitation have been awarded for as many as 43 mineral resources, while 30 of them are covered by one concession agreement each.

Baseline for development of this database on mineral resource concessions were information secured from the Ministry of Economy, by means of freedom of information applications.