From our special reporter
Xiamen, China – “Last year, ‘Ciđin’ produced 240,000 tons of copper and 7.5 tons of gold in Serbia.” In September 2018, ‘Ciđin’ signed an agreement with the Government of Serbia, committing to invest 1.26 billion US dollars over a period of six years. Currently, the actual amount of investments is four times higher than planned and production has exceeded expectations, fulfilling all contractual obligations. The future investments of ‘Ciđin’ will be focused on the development of underground copper and gold mines, with estimated reserves of copper of around 20 million tons and gold of 700 to 800 tons. The company plans to increase the annual capacity of the Serbian project to 450,000 tons of copper and 10 tons of gold, which will make Serbia the largest producer of copper in Europe,” said Chen Djinhe, owner and chairman of the board of directors of Ciđin Mining Group, in a conversation with a group of journalists from Serbia.
“‘Ciđin’ has two mining projects in Serbia – in Bor and Majdanpek. Future investments related to surface exploitation will be mainly focused on improving the infrastructure. Currently, two-thirds of the resources in the Serbian project (about 20 million tons of ore) are located at a depth between 1,000 and 2,000 meters, which requires the use of underground mining techniques, and this will be the focus of future investments,” said Chen Jinhe.
As he explained, in achieving this goal, the company faces many challenges, and three problems stood out as the most serious. First, the lack of infrastructure, and the most typical example is the lack of electricity. The second problem is the relocation of the population due to the need to expand the mine, and the third is the procedure for obtaining permits, which, according to him, is often complicated and slow in Serbia, although state institutions provide great support to the operations of “Ciđin”.
Regarding the Investment Agreement of an additional 3.8 billion US dollars (signed last year), the final investment of “Cijin” may exceed this amount, and may be more than four billion dollars, Chen Jinhe claims.
“Our goal for the next five years is to have the largest modern copper mine in Europe in Serbia.” Since our main mines are in Bor and Majdanpek, achieving this goal will have a great impact on the economy and society in the Bor District. Our goal is clear: to make these mines models within ‘Cijin’, in Europe and around the world”, said Chen Jinhe.
According to his words, the arrival of the “Ciđin” company in Serbia led to the revival of the work of RTB “Bor” and at the same time encouraged the development of the copper and gold mine “Čukaru Peki”, which initiated the economic development of Bor, Majdanpek and the whole of eastern Serbia.
“Two ‘Ciđina’ companies in Serbia (‘Ciđina Koper’ and ‘Ciđina Mining’) have opened many jobs with high salaries, attracting workers who worked in other cities to return to Bor. Now the per capita income in Bor is among the highest in Serbia and the standard of living of citizens has improved significantly. The city of Bor once again exudes hope and energy”, said Chen Jinhe, adding that today the local self-government in Bor is also recording a significant increase in income, which it can invest in infrastructure, better health care, education, and culture.
Historical responsibility for environmental protection
“Before ‘Ciđin’ came to Bor, the air was saturated with the smell of sulfur dioxide, and the surroundings were polluted with waste water. ‘Ciđin’ has assumed historical responsibility, attaching great importance to environmental protection and ecological management, advocating the principle of ‘renewable development’. For example, the ‘Visoki Planiri’ landfill at the entrance to Bor belonged to the Bor Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, but ‘Ciđin’ still invested huge funds in ecological restoration and greening,” said Chen Jinhe and added: “We have already set up a detailed plan for the application of renewable energy sources. For example, many of our mines use solar and wind farms to ensure that the source of electricity is clean. In the future, ‘Ciđin’ will extend this green technology to all its mines around the world, including projects in Serbia.”
