China pours $2.5 bln into Serbian copper mines over five years

This nearly doubles the $1.26 billion initially pledged by the Chinese investor in its 2018 agreement with the Serbian government, Guozhu told Serbian broadcaster RTS in an interview over the weekend.

He noted $300 million was invested in Serbia in the past five years in solving ecological issues alone, including cutting sulphur dioxide emissions and installing a system for industrial waste water treatment.

Guozhu also said that Serbia Zijin Copper and Serbia Zijin Mining, the two units of the Chinese group in the Balkan country, now employ some 7,500 people, and will need more workers, especially in the areas of geology, geodesy, cartography, mechanical maintenance and finance.

Last month, Zijin Mining Group's director general, Chen Jinghe, told Serbian reporters visiting Zijin's mines and smelter in China that the Chinese group plans to double the annual capacity of its Serbian projects in Bor and Majdanpek to 450,000 tonnes of copper and 10 tonnes of gold in the next five years, turning Serbia into the top European producer and one of the global leaders in the area.

Jinghe has also said that the estimated copper reserves in Serbia total some 20 million tonnes, while the gold reserves are seen at 700 to 800 tonnes. The mining of these resources via most advanced equipment will be the focus of the future investments.

Last year, China's Zijin produced 1.01 million tonnes of copper and 68 tonnes of gold. The output of its Serbian unit alone totalled 240,000 tonnes of copper and 7.5 tonnes of gold in 2023.

The Chinese group injected $350 million into Serbian copper mining and smelting company RTB Bor in December 2018, acquiring majority ownership and renaming it to Zijin Bor Copper. The latter was the most profitable company in the country for 2018 according to Serbia's Business Registers Agency.

Serbia Zijin Copper says on its website it owns four copper mines (Veliki Krivelj, Novo Cerovo, Jama and copper mine Majdanpek), as well as a limestone mine and a smelter. The facilities are located in the Bor district in eastern Serbia, close to the border with Romania.

($ = 0.922 euro)