Zijin Copper seeks environmental permit to mine additional 3.5 million tons of copper ore from Kraku Bugaresku deposit

Serbia Zijin Copper d.o.o. Bor has submitted a request to the Ministry of Environmental Protection for approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment study regarding the project to mine the Cementacija 2 and Cementacija 3 ore bodies within the Kraku Bugaresku Cerovo-Cementacija deposit.

The Chinese mining company submitted the request to prepare this study a year ago, aiming to continue decades-long ore extraction at the Cementacija 1 open-pit mine, located on the ridge of Kraku Bugaresku hill, 13 kilometers from Bor and two kilometers from the village of Mali Krivelj.

The study has now been completed, though it is not yet publicly available on the Ministry’s website.

The Faculty of Mining and Geology at the University of Belgrade prepared the request for the study, and the project is based on prior approvals issued by the Ministry of Mining and Energy in 1991 and 2018.

As outlined in the request, the mine’s development is planned in five phases. Extraction begins in the northern section of Cementacija 2, followed by the pit’s expansion toward the southwest and the opening of Cementacija 3. Subsequently, the Cementacija 2 and Cementacija 3 pits will expand southward, while reserve resources in the Cementacija 4 ore body will be extracted in the southeastern part of the deposit.

The Cementacija 2 open-pit mine is designed for an annual production of 3.5 million tons of ore, with a planned operational lifespan of seven years.

The Cementacija 2 project has been valued at a net project value of USD 117 million under the best-case scenario, making it one of the most significant investments in Serbia’s mining sector in recent years.

The total volume of overburden generated during extraction will amount to 61.1 million tons. To accommodate extraction at the Cementacija 2 and 3 open-pit mines, the existing overburden dumps from the Cementacija 1 mine will be expanded, according to the same document. It is noted that, following the expansion, the dumps will possess sufficient capacity, 61.9 million tons of overburden, to handle the material generated during the planned extraction period.

Ore extraction at the Cementacija 2 and 3 pits will utilize a so-called discontinuous mining method, comprising drilling, blasting, loading, and transporting the raw material to the primary crusher, as well as overburden transport and disposal, dewatering, and auxiliary operations.

Let us remind that, in December 2023, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia overturned a decision by the Ministry of Mining and Energy that had allowed the company Zijin to “unlawfully split the project” in Krivelj, thereby bypassing a comprehensive environmental impact assessment. The Court ruled that the study had to encompass all aspects of the project, including extraction, mine development, overburden disposal and long-term environmental consequences, rather than being limited to individual phases.

Branislava Petrovic

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

Ministarstvo zaštite životne sredine Republike Srbije

Mali Krivelj

Kraku Bugaresku copper deposit

green permit

Cementacija open pit mine