February 13 (SeeNews) - Zijin Bor Copper, the Serbian unit of China's Zijin Mining Group, has suspended production at its Novo Cerovo mine in eastern Serbia after a road blockade by local villagers interrupted the supply of raw materials to the mine, local media reported on Tuesday.
Since all stocks of diesel, explosives and raw materials have been exhausted, the Novo Cerovo surface mine has to temporarily stop work, news agency Tanjug reported.
According to media reports, local people have been holding protests against the mine since the end of January, saying that it is polluting the air, water and soil in the region.
The estimated capacity of the Novo Cerovo mine is 2.5 million tonnes of ore per year.
In 2018, the Chinese group injected $350 million (326.5 million euro) in the capital of Serbian copper mining and smelting company RTB Bor, becoming its majority owner. It later renamed the company to Zijin Bor Copper.
($ = 0.9329 euro)