Chinese Zijin to invest USD 800 million in Serbia – Expansion of Zijin Bor Copper and development of Cukaru Peki gold mine planned

The Chinese company Zijin Mining will invest USD 800 million into expanding production capacities in Zijin Bor Copper complex and will also develop the new Cukaru Peki copper and gold mine.

As Vecernje Novosti daily reports, this year, Zijin will start expanding the Veliki Krivelj and Majdanpek open pit mines and will start investing into opening of the new copper and gold mine Cerovo 2.

Additionally, the company will start preparations for activating the Borska reka bed within the Jama underground mine whose entry point is situated at 450 meters below the surface.

The company also plans to reconstruct and expand the capacity of the copper smelting unit from the current 80,000 to 200,000 tons of copper per year, construct another sulfuric acid factory, procure new electrolysis apparatus...

The report says that the works on opening the upper zone of the Cukaru Peki site, confirmed to hold around million tons of copper and close to 70 tons of gold reserves , would prove the biggest challenge for the Chinese. The mine would become fully operational around the middle of 2021.

Aside from that, Bor Copper strategic partner bought the rights to the lower zone of Cukaru Peki from the American company Freeport-McMoRan for nearly USD 400 million which contains reserves of around 5 million tons of copper and close to 150 million tons of gold – almost the same as the amount of metals mined in the last 150 years in Bor.

Zijin has started the project design for the exploitation of the underground mining site Borska reka in cooperation with the Mining and Metallurgy Institute in Bor.

It is estimated that the site contains reserves of around four million tons of copper , 130 tons of god and over 1000 tons of silver whose gross value is, according to the current prices, more than USD 30 billion.

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

Institut za rudarstvo i metalurgiju Bor

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Phoenix Arizona

Zijin

Zijin Bor Copper

Freeport

Cukaru Peki

Mining and Metallurgy Institute

Veliki Krivelj

Majdanpek

Cerovo 2

Jama mine

Bor Copper investments

Cukaru Peki investments

copper

gold

copper smelter

sulphuric acid plant

copper reserves