Srpska verzija se nalazi ispod
The city of Bor, Serbia, lies directly in the shadow of copper and gold mining. The majority of the massive mining operation is owned by Zijin, a Chinese-owned company. The mine has expanded operations significantly in recent years. Residents are experiencing negative health impacts likely linked to air pollution from the mines.
Reduced Air Quality Has Health Impacts
The impacts of high levels of extraction and smelting are felt across the region. Air quality is one of the main concerns. A report from January 2024 revealed frequent spikes in sulfur dioxide (SO₂) levels around Bor, which contribute to acute and chronic respiratory problems, as well as acid rain. The study also found fine particulate matter, PM10, containing heavy metals including lead, cadmium, nickel, and arsenic. These metals can accumulate in the body, causing severe long-term health consequences, including cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, and cancer. Arsenic levels have been particularly concerning. Air quality monitoring between 2019 and 2022 found arsenic levels hundreds and even a thousand times higher than allowed under Serbian regulations.
There has not been a systemic assessment of the health impacts since Zijin took over mining operations, however the Batut Public Health Institute released a study that found higher risk of mortality for the men and women of Bor acrossage groups. Another study found a correlation between air pollution and the exacerbation of cardiovascular issues. Community groups in Bor contend there are over 3,400 active oncology patients from the city and another 1,800 patients who have finished treatment. In a city of 288,000 people that is a staggering number. In Serbia, it is common to post obituaries in public spaces, and bulletin boards around Bor and surrounding areas are packed with pictures of the recently deceased.
Mine Waste Leads to Contamination and Risk
The effects of mine waste have been significant for residents of Bor and nearby communities. There are at least eight tailings dams in the Bor region, and dozens of waste rock piles. In 2010, researchers estimated over 11,000 tons of mine waste per citizen of Bor, which was before Zijin increased production. Studies have found the soils around the mine are heavily contaminated with copper, iron, and arsenic.
A series of accidents and tailings dam failures over the decades have led to damages and degradation of about 60% of the agricultural land in the municipality. At one point, the Bor River and its banks were flooded with tailings up to 50 cm thick, destroying all flora and fauna, which did not revegetate for at least 40 years. This contamination continues, and as one study notes the “Bor River is constantly polluted by waste water resulting from draining through the flotation tailings and open pit overburden.” Because the Bor River is part of the Timok River basin which flows into the Danube, the contamination is far reaching.
The locations of tailings dams are extremely concerning. In at least two instances, multiple dams are constructed in a line one after another, where the failure of the first dam would flow into a second dam, which could in turn fail into a third. The cumulative impacts of a dam failure would be extreme. There are communities in the flow path of a possible failure for many of the dams. According to community members from Krivelj, a small town on the outskirts of Bor, they have been told they will have only 20 minutes to evacuate in the event of a tailings failure, despite a lack of sirens or warning systems. They report they have never been trained where or how to safely evacuate. There is also mining infrastructure where workers are present directly below some of these tailings dams. This is concerning given that most of the 272 people killed in the tragic Brumadinho tailings dam failure in Brazil were workers doing their jobs.
Expanding Footprint Threatens Communities and Farms
As Zijin pushes to increase production it also expands the footprint of the mining operations. These new facilities will require the removal of communities to store tailings or to build new infrastructure. Community members in Krivelj have been fighting for years to protect their ancestral homes. According to community members I spoke with in October, 2024, instead of presenting a plan to relocate the entire community, including churches, the graveyard, and other public infrastructure, Zijin has begun buying land and/or houses in Krivelj one at a time directly from residents. Residents report feeling pressured to sell their assets at a price below market value. Last spring women from Krivelj set up a blockade on the local bridge to push back against the informal resettlement process.
Residents of the mostly farming community of Slatina report that Zijin has taken farmland for expanding operations or blocked their access to agricultural land. One farmer told me he had seven acres of land “expropriated” by the company and was never compensated. He says has taken the company to court, as have many of the 20 families that have had their land taken, but his case has not been resolved. He used to grow corn and wheat, and raise livestock on his land. He has lost that income. He said the water in the three wells on his property is polluted and showed us a communal spring with drinking water that had been destroyed by mining infrastructure.
The residents of Slatina and Krivelj are mostly from the Indigenous Vlach ethnic minority, and consider the government’s acceptance of the mining company’s actions a form of discrimination. The Slatina resident I visited said the mining companies’ actions and the government’s support is an “insult to the people living here.”
Oversight is Urgently Needed
The Serbian government seems unwilling or unable to effectively regulate Zijin and their mining operations around Bor. The rampant environmental degradation, the violations of human rights and collective community rights, the apparent disregard for the health impacts from operations, all while allowing the unfettered expansion of mining, indicates that the government institutions charged with protecting citizens and the environment are ineffective and/or negligent. This is particularly worrisome in light of a proposed mine in western Serbia that, if permitted, will produce 2.3 million tonnes of lithium.
Foreign governments like Germany, the EU and the U.S. have chimed in to support the project without acknowledging the institutional weaknesses in the Serbian regulations, as shown by the situation in Bor. Before pushing ahead to expand mining in the country, meaningful steps must be taken to address the social and environmental harms the industry is already causing, both in Serbia and in the EU. Legal analysis of the 2006 EU Extractive Waste Directive found the need for stronger regulation as new laws come into effect, a failure to mandate best available techniques, and insufficient protection of the environment and local communities. This has led civil society organizations to call on the EU to commit to a revision of the key provisions of the Directive. Revising the Directive could make a big difference for communities throughout the EU, and serve as a model for Bor.
Zona žrtvovanja u trci za bakrom: Iskustva iz Bora, Srbija
Grad Bor, Srbija, leži direktno u senci vađenja bakra i zlata. Većina velikih rudarskih operacija je u vlasništvu Zijin, kompanije u kineskom vlasništvu. Rudnik je poslednjih godina značajno proširio poslovanje. Stanovnici doživljavaju negativne uticaje na zdravlje verovatno povezane sa zagađenjem vazduha iz rudnika.
Smanjen kvalitet vazduha ima uticaj na zdravlje
Uticaji tako visokih nivoa eksploatacije i topljenja metala osećaju se širom regiona. Kvalitet vazduha je jedan od glavnih problema. Izveštaj iz januara 2024. godine otkrio je česta prekoračenja nivoa sumpor-dioksida (SO₂) u okolini Bora, što doprinosi akutnim i hroničnim respiratornim problemima, kao i kiselim kišama. Studija je takođe utvrdila prisustvo finih čestica PM10 koje sadrže teške metale, uključujući olovo, kadmijum, nikal i arsen. Ovi metali mogu se akumulirati u organizmu, izazivajući ozbiljne dugoročne zdravstvene posledice, uključujući kardiovaskularne bolesti, oštećenje bubrega i rak. Nivoi arsena su posebno zabrinjavajući. Monitoring kvaliteta vazduha između 2019. i 2022. godine pokazao je da su nivoi arsena stotine, pa čak i hiljadu puta viši od dozvoljenih prema srpskim propisima.
Sistemska procena zdravstvenih posledica nije sprovedena otkako je Zijin preuzeo rudarske operacije. Međutim, Institut za javno zdravlje “Batut” objavio je studiju koja je pokazala povećan rizik smrtnosti u Boru za gotovo sve starosne grupe, i kod muškaraca i kod žena. Druga studija je pronašla povezanost između zagađenja vazduha i pogoršanja kardiovaskularnih problema. Aktivisti iz zajednice u Boru tvrde da u gradu ima preko 3.400 aktivnih onkoloških pacijenata, dok je još 1.800 ljudi završilo lečenje. U gradu sa 24.000 stanovnika, ovo su alarmantne brojke. U Srbiji je uobičajeno da se umrlice objavljuju na javnim mestima, a oglasne table u Boru i okolini preplavljene su slikama preminulih.
Rudnički otpad dovodi do kontaminacije i rizika
Uticaji rudarskog otpada takođe su značajni. U regionu Bora postoji najmanje osam jalovišta i desetine gomila rudarskog otpada. Godine 2010. istraživači su procenili da na svakog građanina Bora dolazi preko 11.000 tona rudarskog otpada, što je bilo pre nego što je Zijin povećao proizvodnju. Studije su pokazale da su zemljišta oko rudnika jako kontaminirana bakrom, gvožđem, i arsenom.
Serija nesreća i puknuća jalovišta tokom decenija dovela je do štete i degradacije oko 60% poljoprivrednog zemljišta u opštini. U jednom trenutku, reka Bor i njene obale bile su prekrivene jalovinom debljine do 50 cm, uništavajući svu floru i faunu. Vegetacija se nije obnovila najmanje 40 godina. Ovo zagađenje se nastavlja, a jedna studija navodi da je “reka Bor konstantno zagađena otpadnim vodama koje nastaju drenažom kroz jalovišta i prekrivku otvorenog kopa”. Pošto reka Bor pripada slivu reke Timok, koja se uliva u Dunav, zagađenje ima dalekosežne posledice.
Lokacije jalovišta izazivaju veliku zabrinutost. U najmanje dva slučaja, više jalovišta je izgrađeno u nizu, jedno iza drugog, gde bi pucanje prvog jalovišta izazvalo lančano pucanje drugog, koje bi potom moglo izazvati pucanje trećeg. Kumultativni efekti pucanja jalovišta bili bi katastrofalni. Postoje zajednice koje se nalaze na putanji mogućeg toka jalovine u slučaju pucanja mnogih jalovišta. Prema rečima stanovnika Krivelja, malog sela Bora, rečeno im je da bi imali samo 20 minuta za evakuaciju u slučaju pucanja jalovišta, uprkos nedostatku sirena ili sistema za upozoravanje. Meštani tvrde da nikada nisu obučeni gde i kako bezbedno da se evakuišu. Pored toga, rudarska infrastruktura se nalazi direktno ispod nekih od tih jalovišta, gde radnici svakodnevno obavljaju svoje poslove. Ovo je posebno zabrinjavajuće, s obzirom na to da je većina od 272 osobe poginule u tragičnom pucanju jalovišta Brumadinjo u Brazilu bila radnici.
Širenje uticaja ugrožava zajednice i farme
Kako Zijin nastavlja da povećava proizvodnju, tako i širi površinu rudarskih operacija. Ove nove infrastrukturne potrebe zahtevaju uklanjanje zajednica radi skladištenja jalovine ili izgradnje novih postrojenja. Stanovnici Krivelja godinama se bore da zaštite svoje porodične domove. Prema rečima meštana s kojima sam razgovarao u oktobru 2024. godine, umesto da predstavi plan za preseljenje cele zajednice, uključujući crkve, groblja, i drugu javnu infrastrukturu, Zijin je počeo da kupuje zemljište i/ili kuće u Krivelju jednu po jednu direktno od stanovnika. Meštani navode da osećaju pritisak da prodaju svoju imovinu po cenama nižim od tržišne vrednosti. Prošlog proleća, žene iz Krivelja su organizovale blokadu na lokalnom mostu kako bi se usprotivile ovom neformalnom procesu preseljenja.
Stanovnici pretežno poljoprivredne zajednice Slatina prijavljuju da im je Zijin oduzeo poljoprivredno zemljište radi proširenja operacija ili im blokirao pristup poljima. Jedan poljoprivrednik rekao je da mu je kompanija “eksproprisala” sedam hektara zemlje i da nikada nije dobio naknadu. Naveo je da je kompaniju tužio, kao i mnogi od 20 porodica koje su ostale bez zemlje, ali njegov slučaj još nije rešen. Na toj zemlji je uzgajao kukuruz i pšenicu, kao i stoku. Izgubio je taj izvor prihoda. Rekao je da je voda iz tri bunara na njegovom imanju zagađena i pokazao nam zajednički izvor pijaće vode koji je uništen rudarskom infrastrukturom.
Stanovnici Slatine i Krivelja su većinom pripadnici autohtone vlaške etničke manjine i smatraju da je prihvatanje delovanja rudarskih kompanija od strane vlasti oblik diskriminacije. Jedan od stanovnika Slatine s kojim sam razgovarao rekao je da su postupci rudarskih kompanija i podrška vlade “uvreda za ljude koji ovde žive.”
Hitno je potreban nadzor
Čini se da je srpska vlada nesposobna ili nespremna da efektivno reguliše Zijin i njihove rudarske operacije okolina Bora. Ogromna degradacija životne sredine, kršenje ljudskih i kolektivnih prava zajednica, očigledno zanemarivanje zdravstvenih posledica ovih operacija, a sve to uz omogućavanje nekontrolisanog širenja rudarenja, ukazuje na to da su institucije zadužene za zaštitu građana i životne sredine neefikasne i/ili nemarne. Ovo je posebno zabrinjavajuće u svetlu predloženog rudnika u zapadnoj Srbiji koji bi, ako dobije dozvolu, trebalo da proizvodi 2,3 miliona tona litijuma.
Strane vlade, poput Nemačke, EU i SAD, podržavaju ovaj projekat, ne uzimajući u obzir institucionalne slabosti srpskih regulacija, što je jasno iz situacije u Boru. Pre nego što se krene u dalju ekspanziju rudarenja u zemlji, potrebno je preduzeti značajne korake kako bi se rešile društvene i ekološke štete koje industrija već prouzrokuje, kako u Srbiji tako i u EU. Pravna analiza Direktive EU o ekstraktivnom otpadu iz 2006. godine pokazala je potrebu za jačom regulativom kako novi zakoni stupaju na snagu, propust da se propisuju najbolje dostupne tehnike i nedovoljna zaštita životne sredine i lokalnih zajednica. Ovo je navelo organizacije civilnog društva da pozovu EU da se obaveže na reviziju ključnih odredbi Direktive. Revizija Direktive mogla bi da napravi veliku razliku za zajednice širom EU i posluži kao model za Bor.