A procedure towards bankruptcy of the mining company Gorubso was opened by the District Court in Smolyan, Southern Bulgaria, Economy Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Nikolay Vassilev announced. The aim of these measures is to recover the company, prepare it for a new sale and it is the only way to save the company, which has huge losses as a result of poor management, the Minister of Economy said. The losses amounted to over BGN 4 million for 2000. An expert working group of twenty members took the bankruptcy decision unanimously. The audit, made by Deloitte & Touche showed that the state does not owe any money to the company. The owners of Gorubso, the Russian –Turkish consortium Rodopa Investment acquired the company for BGN 150,000, promising to pay all the debts. The Gorubso former workers who blocked the Smolyan-Madan road because of unpaid wages stopped their protest on August 31st after the government took its decision.