Thick woodland and lush grasslands surround the Cukaru Peki mine.

Staff members of Zijin discuss the merits of a document.

Zijin's refurbished smelter is contributing to a cleaner environment in Bor.

Zijin Bor Women's Handball Team celebrates its winning of a match.

The Cukaru Peki copper-gold mine celebrates International Children's Day with local children in Serbia.

Employees of the Bor Copper Complex and their families attend an Easter Day activity.

As a principal participant in the worldwide marketplace, China's Zijin Mining Group is committed to building a green, high-tech and top international mining group while providing high-quality minerals to drive global economic growth, according to company officials.

Zijin Mining Group is a large multinational corporation engaged in the exploration and extraction of metals and minerals, including copper, gold, zinc and battery minerals. It is also involved in researching engineering technologies and applications.

The company has mining projects in 16 countries, including China, Colombia, Argentina and Australia, and operates two projects in eastern Serbia.

After nearly five years' operation by Zijin, a decades-old copper complex, which had been loss-making, in Bor, Serbia, has been rejuvenated, coinciding with the rapid construction and commissioning of a copper-gold mine on the outskirts of Bor that the company acquired in 2019.

Both have become symbols of the long-standing friendship between China and Serbia while playing important roles in promoting local economic and social development.

Old project revived

Management and renovation of the Bor Copper Complex, previously known as RTB Bor, was challenging at the beginning, due to long-term unscientific development of the mines that limited their output. The mining complex also faced problems in corporate management and production equipment, which lacked proper management and maintenance protocols.

"Taking mineral processing as an example, the project's employees had difficulty adjusting their systems and skills based on the characteristics of the ores," said Yan Junning, head of the processing plant at Veliki Krivelj, or VK, one of the four mines at the Bor Copper Complex.

Focusing on production, Zijin Mining made long-term, scientific plans, and quickly dealt with problems hampering increases in capacity in the mining, mineral processing and smelting procedures. The company has also vigorously promoted equipment transformation and upgrades.

The four mines that comprise the Bor Copper Complex are all low-grade porphyry deposits. After mining by companies from France, Germany and other countries, they are now more difficult to operate, but with innovative thinking and lean management Zijin is continuously optimizing its technologies and processes to improve output. The company also tirelessly seeks breakthroughs in production and operation, cost reduction, efficiency improvement, mine exploration and reserve growth.

Of the four mines, Majdanpek and VK contain massive amounts of "economically neutral ores", which are useful but have very low copper content. Zijin Mining stockpiled a total of 1.57 million metric tons of such ores during the construction of new processing plants in the two mines. After the plants were put into operation, the ores were blended with higher-grade ones for further processing, generating a profit of nearly $9.14 million.

Also, through optimization of processing methods and the development of new flotation reagents, the mineral processing capacity of VK increased from 8 million tons per year to 11 million tons per year, while copper recovery stabilized at more than 84 percent.

In the C2 orebody of the Novo Cerovo (NC) mine, which contains oxide ores, Zijin has blended oxide ores, mixed ores and primary ores with optimal proportion following multiple tests, increasing the recovery during mineral processing to more than 80 percent. And NC's processing capacity has been increased from 2.5 million tons to 3.3 million tons per year.

In just six months after being acquired by Zijin Mining, the Bor Copper Complex achieved a turnaround, and its steady growth over the past three years has made it one of the largest and most profitable companies in Serbia.

Other efforts made by Zijin Mining include the establishment of local subsidiaries engaged in construction and mechanical and electrical maintenance to improve efficiency and lower outsourcing costs. Furthermore, the company continues to prioritize green development and production safety. In 2022, the number of safety-related events at the Bor Copper Complex decreased by 34 percent year-on-year.

By the end of December 2022, Zijin Mining had invested $197 million in the field of environmental protection in Serbia. About 2.32 million square meters of ecological areas have been restored, and the comprehensive recycling rate of mining wastewater reached 93 percent.

The Bor Copper Complex also attaches great importance to communication and interaction with nearby communities in the mining areas. It has several mechanisms in place, such as community service centers and company-government-community joint working groups.

As for undertaking social responsibility, the mining complex implemented community projects such as the "For the Future" education initiative and "Healthy Drinking Water" in 2022, delivering positive effects. As of 2022, it had carried out a total of 162 public welfare projects in communities and directly donated more than $4 million.

In recognition of its economic and social successes, the project has been awarded several prizes and honorary titles. It won an outstanding economic contribution prize in 2021, and last year received an award related to social responsibility given by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, University of Belgrade and University of Novi Sad.

It also earned an outstanding business achievement award from the Serbian chamber in 2022, in recognition of its significant contributions in promoting Serbia's economic development and realizing the green transformation of the mining industry.

Building a new mine

Located about 5 kilometers away from the Bor Copper Complex and owned and operated by Zijin Mining is the Cukaru Peki copper-gold mine, a project that employs the latest production technologies. Zijin acquired the project, which was then in the exploration stage and had yet to be developed, in March 2019 and built and put it into production two years later. With an annual copper production of 110,000 tons and gold production of 5.1 tons in 2022, the project has contributed a cumulative tax revenue of $120 million while becoming one of Serbia's most notable exporters in the industry.

The mine's rapid commissioning and the output it contributed consolidated Serbia's position as the second-largest copper producer in Europe, while Zijin ramped up research on the application of the block caving mining method at the mine.

"This mine looks so spectacular; I never dreamed it would look like this!" Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said at Cukaru Peki's production commencement ceremony in October 2021.

Meeting high standards

The Cukaru Peki copper-gold mine is Serbia's first eco-friendly mine and employs modern technologies to meet high environmental standards in serving as a model of cooperation between China and Serbia. Zijin emphasizes both resource extraction and environment protection, and through strengthening monitoring and treatment of wastewater, flue gas, noise and slag, the mine has achieved zero effect on the air, zero pollution to the soil, and no discharge of industrial wastewater.

From 2019 to date, around $80 million has been invested in environmental and ecological protection, and the company carried out afforestation in the mining area, aimed at achieving 100-percent green coverage. From the beginning of 2023, approximately 10 hectares had been planted with shrubbery or grass, and 20,000 trees were planted.

In terms of biodiversity, Zijin conducted a comprehensive survey of local wildlife and plants and determined the distribution and species of protected wildlife in the surrounding areas in order to formulate a conservation plan. The research results indicated biodiversity in the area is not affected by mining activities.

Since October 2021, the project has seen an increase in carbon emissions due to increased production, but carbon emissions per unit of copper concentrate have remained stable. The company worked to develop a clean energy proposal and plans to build a photovoltaic power plant with an installed capacity of 100 megawatts in the future.

Currently, the project is pushing forward with diverse work to increase production and achieve production goals in its upper mining zone, striving to become another overseas exemplary project in environmental, social and governance practices.

Positive changes

In the late 1990s, Bor was a city rich in resources but rife with social issues and industrial decline. It suffered from problems such as high unemployment and poverty. Since its arrival, Zijin has brought positive changes: significant improvements in infrastructure, education, livelihood, employment, medical care, environmental protection and assistance to vulnerable groups.

In 2022, Europe was expected to experience its coldest winter in two decades. With sharp increases in energy and electricity costs, the price of wood in Serbia had doubled compared to 2021, making it difficult for vulnerable groups to afford. In response to this, the Cukaru Peki project launched the "Warm Winter" campaign, providing 50 households from three villages in Bor — Slatina, Brestovac and Metovnica — each with 5 cubic meters of wood, enough for heating through the entire winter.

In addition to helping warm Bor's residents, Zijin has assisted in solving a long-standing lack of drinking water in the surrounding communities. For almost half a century, the village of Metovonica near the Cukaru Peki mine was without a stable water supply system. In the winter, livestock struggled to find enough water to drink, and irrigation for farmland relied solely on natural precipitation. The local government attempted to install a water pipeline and accompanying infrastructure, but the project stalled due to financial constraints.

In July 2021, Cukaru Peki invested 1 million euros ($1.07 million) to help the city government complete the remaining construction. The company also signed a five-year agreement in 2022 to pay a fixed water fee every month for connected households in a bid to provide safe drinking water and water for irrigation. An 87-year-old local resident who had to worry about water supplies for her entire life expressed gratitude, saying that the Chinese company's act of kindness made reliance on rainwater, melted snow and water wells a thing of the past.

In another initiative driven by visits and research, Zijin learned that some families in the area were unable to afford textbooks, resulting in school-aged children dropping out. The company proposed an education project in Bor named "For the Future", which was welcomed by the Bor municipal government, the education department, and local primary and secondary schools. The project is planned to be five years long and will be implemented in stages, with more than $500,000 spent in 2022 and 2023.

Attracting talent

In the past, due to the decline of Bor's industries, many young residents sought employment in developed Western European countries, enduring the hardships of working away from their home country. Since Zijin began to operate in Serbia, Cukaru Peki has created about 1,000 new jobs with an average monthly salary of 117,000 dinars ($1,060), which significantly exceeds the average wage in Serbia.

With ongoing operations, technological upgrades and new projects, the demand for labor at the company continues to increase. In May 2022, Zijin participated in a job fair in Bor and received thousands of applications. The mayor of Bor, who was present at the fair, said the company's arrival has stimulated local economic and industrial development and reduced the unemployment rate to a historical low.

Zijin's helpful role has received widespread praise from the local communities. The company has been awarded Bor's Outstanding Contribution Award for two consecutive years and it will remain a reliable friend and partner to Bor and its residents.