SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO is a Chinese-Serbian company that operates as part of the Zijin Mining Group. It was founded on December 18, 2018, when Zijin and the Government of the Republic of Serbia signed the final documents, i.e. the Agreement on the acquisition of 63 percent of ownership of RTB Bor. In this fashion, Zijin became the holder of 63 percent of the company’s share in the capital, while the remaining 37 percent belongs to the Republic of Serbia. The planned investment in this Zijin project was 1.26 billion US dollars, and as of August 2023, investments in the amount of 2 billion 283 million dollars were realized.
The company owns four copper mines (“Veliki Krivelj”, “Novo Cerovo”, “Jama” and “Majdanpek”), a limestone mine, “Kamenolom” Quarry Plant and the Smelter Plant. As of August 2023, the resource reserves of SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO amount to nine million 90 thousand tonnes of copper in ore, with an average grade of 0.392 percent of metal per tonne, and 350 tonnes of gold in the ore, with an average grade of 0.151 grams per tonne. Upon completion of the Project of technical reconstruction, expansion and construction of metallurgical facilities, the Smelter Plant will have the capacity to produce 180 thousand tonnes of cathode copper annually.
By re-industrializing mining and metallurgical capacities, SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO has unequivocally shown its intention to invest in the development and future not only of Bor, Majdanpek and Bor District, but of the whole of Eastern Serbia. The company’s aim is for Bor to become a green, low-carbon and sustainable base of non-ferrous metals in Serbia as well as in Europe.
Since taking ownership of the former RTB Bor until the end of August 2023, SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO has paid 421 million US dollars in the name of various taxes and fees and made a cumulative contribution to the social community in Serbia of 787 million dollars. That is why the company ranks among the business entities with largest payments on the basis of taxes and fees. In addition, SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER cooperates with over 1,500 local suppliers, therefore the cumulative value of material procurement reaches one billion 728 million US dollars, indirectly creating over 8,000 jobs.
The total number of employees in SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO at the end of August 2023 was 6,233, of which 6,035 i.e. 96.8 percent are workers with Serbian citizenship, and 198 are of Chinese nationality. The average monthly net income in August was approximately RSD 125,000, which compared to the net income of 2018 is 87 percent higher. Salaries of employees in SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO far exceed the local level of income per capita, and are 45 percent higher than the average in Serbia. After taking over management, more than 2,700 new, mostly young people got jobs in Bor and Majdanpek, which is the most significant contribution to the economic development of the two cities. Additionally, the large number of newly created jobs for the local population played an important role in maintaining social stability.
Observing the Serbian laws and regulations on production safety and environmental protection, after taking over the management of SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO made a great effort to investigate and eliminate the historical heritage in these areas, thus greatly improving the overall occupational health and safety and environmental conditions. Business activities in the area of production safety is based on the “life comes first” principle and in order to effectively improve the immediate working environment, modern facilities and equipment have been installed. As of August 2023, the accident rate per million business hours was 0.44. On the other hand, 219 million dollars were invested in improving the state of the environment and ecology. Numerous measures have been taken in terms of resolving problems with dust, solid waste, flue gases, waste water and others, which have given notable results. In an effort to build green mines and achieve harmony between mine development and environmental protection, over three million square meters of land were greened and almost half a million seedlings were planted. About 50,000 tonnes of solid and about 2,100 tonnes of hazardous waste were properly disposed of.
As a socially responsible company, SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO pays tremendous attention to the sustainable development of the environment in which it operates and provides assistance to the local governments in Bor and Majdanpek almost every day. It continuously implements a package of plans for the joint construction of social communities and conscientiously fulfils its corporate obligations. It helps numerous cultural, educational, health, tourist and sports institutions and events and directly and concretely shows that it is the engine of development of Timok Valley and Serbia.
SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO made 185 donations by the end of August 2023 and invested 4.5 million US dollars in the improvement of health care, traffic infrastructure, education, sports, traditional art and children entertainment.
In addition to many challenges, we believe that the future will bring progress to all of us in every sense and that by following new technologies, together with hard-working people, we will improve every segment of our business operations. The obligation of the company SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO is to provide the residents with a healthy environment by applying world standards and modern technologies in business and develop mining for the benefit of the whole society.
