Public invitation for privatization or partnership in RTB Bor by late March 2018

The Government of Serbia will open a public invitation for the collection of bids for RTB Bor by the end of March 2018, stated Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic.

According to him, the Government of Serbia will also define a model for introducing a partner to RTB Bor by then, as it is still not known whether the invitation will pertain to a strategic partnership or privatization of RTB Bor.

– This year alone, RTB Bor will have revenues of USD 300 million – Antic emphasized.

As he explained, had the Cerovo 2 and Cerovo Primarno mines been opened and developed and had the surface cuts Veliki Krivelj and Juzni Revir been expanded, the revenues would amount to USD 700 million at the current price of copper.

The minister of mining underlines that, to activate and expand the mines at RTB Bor, it would be necessary to invest half a billion dollars.

– RTB does not have that kind of money, and the state will not invest in opening new mines, so the help in finding the best strategic partner for Bor, offered to us by the IMF, is more than welcome. The selection of the strategic partner for RTB Bor will be defined by its readiness to invest in the company's development – Antic emphasized.

– Around USD 400 million would be put into opening new mines, whereas the remaining USD 100 million would be used to expand the existing ones.

According to Antic, at the moment, the Government of Serbia has memorandums, featuring confidentiality clauses, with eight companies. Of these eight companies, five are very serious – two from China, one from Russia and two from Canada.

Although Antic didn't wish to disclose the names of the companies, as Blic learns unofficially, the most serious contender is the Russian company UGC, headed by Konstatin Strukov. In addition to the Russian company, unofficially, there are also Canadian companies Mundoro and Dandi and Chinese corporations China Power and Hunan Gold China.

– Confirmed reserves of RTB Bor amount to 1.35 billion tons of ore, though I believe they are far greater, as new geological explorations have been impossible due to the sanctions – Antic underlines.

– In close proximity to Bor, American giant Freeport and Canada's Nevsun found one of the richest sites of copper and gold in the world. Even Rio Tinto, one of the biggest global mining corporations, is exploring this area. Mining in this area, then, has a very serious perspective, due to which we will approach the selection of the model for the strategic partner for RTB Bor very seriously.

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Vlada Republike Srbije

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Phoenix Arizona

Rio Tinto plc London

RTB Bor

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Government of Serbia

privatization of RTB Bor

RTB Bor strategic partnership

Cerovo 2

Cerovo Primarno

Veliki Krivelj cut

Juzni Revir cut

Aleksandar Antic

Dandi

Mundoro

Hunan Gold China

China Power

UGC Russia

Rio Tinto

Freeport

Nevsun

Konstantin Strukov

copper mine

copper