About Košice
About the Region
The Košice region is located in the south-eastern part of Slovakia. In the north it borders with the Prešov region and in the west with the Banská Bystrica region. The southern and eastern borders form the national border with Hungary and Ukraine. The Košice region is Slovakia's fourth largest area (6 754.5 km2) and has the second largest population of all the regions. The city of Košice is the second largest and the most important city of Slovakia. The Košice region is divided into 11 districts (Gelnica, Košice I, Košice II, Košice III, Košice IV, Košice - okolie, Michalovce, Rožňava, Sobrance, Spišská Nová Ves and Trebišov) with 440 municipalities, of which 17 have the status of a city. The number of inhabitants in the Košice region is around 799.200. The Košice region is one of the most important economic areas in Slovakia, where the major economic sectors are industry, construction and agriculture.
The Mining and Metallurgy Industry
In the Košice self-governing region several important mining companies have been closed since the 1990s. Nowadays, the main mining companies in the region are: Nafta, which is exploiting at several natural gas deposits (Senné, Trebišov, Stretava, Trhovište-Pozdišovce) and Eurotalc, which is a new company that is mining in the talc deposit in Gemerská Poloma. Another underground mine is the gypsum and anhydrite mine operated by VSK, which is located in Spišská Nová Ves - Novoveská Huta. The companies Carmeuse Slovakia, VSK Mineral, Calmit and CRH are exploiting several limestone and dolomite open pit mines in the region.
In the Košice self-governing region the metallurgical industry is represented by U.S. Steel Košice - the largest integrated steel producer in Central Europe. USSK is situated on the outskirts of Košice and is the second biggest employer in Slovakia and the biggest in the Košice region and in Eastern Slovakia. As the input raw material they use coal and iron ore and their outputs are suitable for applications in the automotive, packaging, electrotechnical, consumer goods and building industries.
Smaller metallurgical conglomerates situated in the Košice self-governing district are SEZ Krompachy and Kovohuty.
Mineral Deposits and Metallurgy Production Sites
The deposits of natural gas and crude oil are located in the Košice self-governing region in the Neogene sedimentary fill of East-Slovakian basin. The deposits are: Trhovište-Pozdišovce, Stretava, Senné and Trebišov.
The mining of metallic ores is no longer present in the Košice-self governing region. Since the Velvet Revolution and the change of the state system in the Slovak Republic from communism to capitalism, the mining of metallic ores could not survive in the market economy.
The industrial minerals (limestone, dolomite, kaolin, crushed stone, gravel sands) are mined mostly in the open pits. The largest stakeholders in the region are: VSK Mineral, Carmeuse Slovakia, CRH and Calmit.
The underground mining is carried out in the talc mine in Gemerská Poloma by EUROTALC and in the gypsum and anhydrite mine in the Novoveská Huta by the VSK company.