Nova ekonomija: Rio Tinto wants Serbian copper too, new director might be crucial for eastern Serbia

The appointment of the new director of the mining company Rio Tinto, after the “sudden” resignation of Jakob Stausholm, will most likely depend on how “aggressive” the future manager will be in terms of finding copper, which is becoming increasingly scarce, the Nova ekonomija portal reported.

Rio Tinto Exploration Dunav has been cooperating with the Chinese for a long time on copper projects in Bor, where a new quantity of this metal was recently found.

– Rio Tinto Exploration Dunav currently does not have permits for mineral exploration in Serbia, and accordingly, we do not conduct field activities. However, we are considering all potential opportunities for exploring copper deposits both in Serbia and in the wider geographical region. As a non-operating partner in cooperation with Zijin Mining, we participate in mineral exploration in certain parts of eastern Serbia – it is stated on the website of the company in Serbia.

In April 2018, Rio Tinto Group established Rio Tinto Exploration Dunav, a company founded for the purpose of conducting mineral exploration, while the previously established Rio Sava Exploration is exclusively associated with the development of the Jadar deposit.

– The company is engaged in mineral resource exploration activities, based on the approval of the Ministry of Energy, with the intention of establishing a mine upon completion of the exploration - this is information first published by the Forbes magazine in December 2024 – reports Nova ekonomija.

According to the portal, it could easily happen that in the coming years Serbia becomes “a veritable small battlefield, on a global scale, in the race for Serbian copper.”

– The state, apart from the strategy of selling exploitation rights or entire mines to foreign investors, has not recently dealt with key resources in the country. Instead, existing mining companies are making good money from exports – writes Nova ekonomija.

Commenting on the resignation of the top man at Rio Tinto, professor at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade Ljubodrag Savic said that it didn’t change anything in large corporations, not even the strategy.

According to him, large companies make serious plans for 20 years, and not “like we do from one day to the next.”

Savic also said that a new amount of copper and gold had been discovered not long ago near the Chinese-run Cukaru Peki mine in Bor.

– According to media reports, Zijin Mining Group announced that it had discovered total identified copper reserves of 2.81 million tons with an average content of 1.87 percent, while gold reserves amount to 92 tons with an average content of 0.61 grams per ton of raw ore. There is also “significant potential for further geological exploration” – said Savic.

He added that it was not clear at that moment whether Rio Tinto was part of the project with Zijin, because, according to the Nedeljnik weekly, the newly opened company Malka Golaja Mining was 95 percent owned by Zijin Mining, while the co-owner with five percent of the capital was the Chinese company Sino-Zijin Resources, responsible for geological exploration within the Zijin Group.

– Given that there is a search for copper everywhere, and that it is obviously available in Serbia, it is not ruled out that Rio Tinto will somehow be involved in these operations in the region – writes Nova ekonomija.

In March, the Fitch agency changed its forecast for the price of copper for this year from 8,500 to 8,800 dollars per ton. Currently, copper is at around 9,492.7 dollars per ton on global raw materials exchanges.

– Assumptions about the increased price of copper for the period 2025-2027. reflect a tightly balanced global copper market in the short and medium term due to continued growing demand from China, although the growth rate has slowed to 2-3 percent per year, from seven percent in 2023. China’s refined copper consumption accounts for almost 60 percent of global demand. The USA is reviewing its energy transition strategies, which may increase regional differences – Fitch economists said.

US President Donald Trump also introduced tariffs on copper in May, so, according to Nova ekonomija, it is not out of the question that these prices are adjusted once more this year.

– There are those rare metals that the whole world is now fighting over and which will be increasingly important in the future. But there are also the classic ones, copper is one of them. With metals that have been used for so long, they will never go away, they can only be more or less interesting and this is reflected in the prices. In 1988, Serbia had 140,000 tons of copper production and the price at that time was around 11,000-11,500 euros – Savic stated.

According to Nova ekonomija, a battle over copper will most likely take place in Serbia, on a global scale, and the question is who will continue to mine and export copper - the Chinese or the Australian-British consortium.

Rio Tinto Exploration Dunav d.o.o. Beograd

Serbia Zijin Mining d.o.o. Bor

Ekonomski fakultet Beograd

Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto Dunav Exploration

Zijin Mining

Faculty of Economics in Belgrade

Ljubodrag Savić

Jakob Stausholm

copper

lithium