"Zijin sentenced to two million dinars for illegal construction in Bor" 6 September 2024

The Commercial Court in Zaječar, following the report submitted by RERI and the Association of Young Researchers Bor, issued a judgment by which the company Zijin Copper was sentenced to a fine of 2 million dinars (aprox. 17.000 EUR), and the responsible person in the legal entity to 150 thousand dinars (aprox. 1.280 EUR) for the construction of a mining facility on the hill above the flotation tailing dump “RTH” contrary to the provisions of the Law on Mining and Geological Research and the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment.

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Zijin has been carrying out these “urgent” works for more than a year, and RERI and AYR Bor have unsuccessfully addressed the inspections of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Mining and Energy on several occasions, which to date have not taken any action to prevent the company from carrying out works without the necessary permits and consents.

Although the judgement considers as a mitigating circumstance the fact that the company submitted a request for approval of the environmental impact study, the study itself is of extremely poor quality and does not contain the basic elements prescribed by law. Thus, neither the company nor the Ministry of Environmental Protection at all take into account the specific location and wind flow, and the fact that the landfill is located above the city, due to which the dust from the tailings containing heavy metals is blown over the city, while the settlements in the immediate vicinity are especially endangered.