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BELGRADE, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Yugoslavia said on Friday the country's major copper mine at Bor and its biggest steel-making plant near Belgrade were resuming production after suffering damage during NATO's bombing campaign earlier this year.
In a clear move to boost morale, President Slobodan Milosevic and his top ministers appeared to have launched a campaign to show Serbia was recovering rapidly from the devastating 11-week air war.
State television showed Milosevic receiving executives of the Bor mine, located in eastern Serbia near the border with Bulgaria.
The mine produces copper, lead and zinc as its main exports, and also gold.
The state news agency Tanjug quoted a statement from Milosevic's office as saying mine production would reach its pre-war level this month, with key investment pushing up copper output to 10.6 million tonnes from 9.0 million a year.
Television showed mine executives praising Milosevic's leadership in economic recovery and presented him with a special golden plaque for "personbal courage and statesman-like wisdom in defending the sovereignty of our country."
Power transmission lines in the mining complex had been hit during the NATO raids.
Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic on Friday visited the Sartid steel works at Smederevo, about 45 km (28 miles) south of Belgrade, which had also suffered damage from the NATO bombing.
State media quoted Sartid managers as telling Marjanovic that the plant would resume production in 10-to-15 days. Exports were expected to amount to $10 million in value next month.
The plant produced 600,000 tonnes of steel annually between 1996 and 1998.
Milosevic on Tuesday made a rare public appearance to reopen the Pancevo oil refinery in northern Serbia, declaring that efforts to rebuild the country would be "victorious."