"Despair among Serbian farmers when their land is confiscated" 23 February 2024

The Chinese mining company Zijin is rapidly expanding its copper and gold exploration in the Serbian cities Bor and Majdanpek. Community members, farmers and landowners say the company has confiscated their property while the Serbian state and justice system turns a blind eye...

China’s Serbia Zijin Copper, a subsidiary of Zijin Mining Group, first launched operations in Bor in 2018. As its production rose and mining operations expanded, normal life for residents of the nearby villages was irrevocably disrupted. Local community members have organized multiple public protests and lodged official complaints, but to little effect...

Rising pollution levels in the air and water were harming all the people living in the region. The area’s mining operations had even diverted the flow of an important river, leading to disastrous results on the irrigation of surrounding farmland...

Despite these serious consequences, Zijin’s large-scale transformation of the local landscape has been implemented without the most basic oversight mechanisms – such as a spatial master plan or an environment impact assessment...

According to Bozic, the residents of the village are desperate for information and worried about the future. He believes that the Chinese company should not be able to acquire houses in the village until it has presented a transparent relocation plan and received approval from the village...