The Tax Administration of Bosnia's Federation (FBiH) entity blocked the accounts of Breza and Zenica brown coal mines due to unpaid wage contributions, Fena news agency reported Wednesday.

The Zenica Brown Coal Mine's account was blocked for the amount of 4,900,000 Bosnian marks (some EUR 2.4 million) and, according to the acting director Dragan Peranovic, they would have to pay the whole sum to get their account unblocked.

“I hope we'll pay the debt by the end of the week and that we'll be able to pay our employees’ salaries. We have the money for the salaries, but we need to unblock the account.

According to him, the Mine's total debt is 65,000,000 Bosnian marks abut that the FBiH Tax Administration is aware they can not pay the whole sum at once. He added that the mines are undergoing a restructuring phase under the Elektroprivreda Group.

Breza Brown Coal Mine CEO Muamer Omedhodzic also confirmed that their account was blocked for the amount of 4.5 million Bosnian Marks (some €2.2 million) and that miners have already announced a strike for January 22.