In 1998, New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges found respite from the interethnic violence that raged across the small European state of Kosovo in an unlikely place: deep underground, among the country’s “glittering” mineral deposits.
Deep inside the Stari Tng mine, Hedges found “veins of lead, zinc, cadmium, gold and silver,” and he heard about Kosovo’s billions of tons of coal reserves.
“The war in Kosovo is about the mines, nothing else,” Stari Tng’s director told Hedges at the time.
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About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
