China’s Zijin Mining Group plans to expand its operations in Serbia in a move to secure the production of copper that is vital to green energy transition.
Zijin opened the Čukaru Peki copper and gold mine in October 2021 with a $678-million investment. The mine is a part of the Mining and Smelting Basin located in an eastern Serbian municipality of Bor. According to local sources, annual production of the mine is 3.3 million tons of copper and gold ore, and its reserves amount to almost 37 million tons of ore.
The new expansion of the mine that would cost up to $3.8 billion, is aimed at extraction of ore from a deeper part of its body that is believed to hold 2.2 million tons of copper. The upper zone may be depleted around 2034, while deeper operations could start in 7 to 10 years.
At the end of 2018, Zijin took over the Mining and Smelting Basin in Bor, signing a strategic partnership agreement with the government of Serbia. Later in 2019 it bought the Čukaru Peki deposit from an American company thus becoming the sole owner of that deposit. Zijin’s long-term plans for the site include building roads, and expanding power supply and flotation facilities.
“Copper is in demand always and everywhere” which justifies the long-term investment, said Branko Rakocevic, the representative of the project's administration. “The market is stable enough. Prices declined from last year, but we don’t expect much volatility.”
Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief of the European bureau, Rough&Polished
