MINES IN JAMA. In 2018 the Chinese company Zijin Mining bought the state-owned mining company in Bor and its mines. And also another mine in a village nearby, Metovnica. Ever since that, production has gone up and locals are now complaining about their land getting expropriated, cracks in their houses because of explosions from the mine, and pollution in general. This photo shows a big mine Veliki Krivelj, on July 17th, 2022.

MINES IN JAMA.

MINES IN JAMA.

MINES IN JAMA.

MINES IN JAMA.

MINES IN JAMA. Portrait of Zoran Vojinovic. In the story, we visit Vojinović in his small house, just near the ‘Veliki Krivelj’ mine just outside of Bor, approx. 20 minutes from the city centre of Bor and 5-10 minutes from Miloš Savić’ home, he also lives right by the mining pit where there is an open green landscape just near his house. In 2018 the Chinese company Zijin Mining bought the state-owned mining company in Bor and its mines. And also another mine in a village nearby, Metovnica. Ever since that, production has gone up and locals are now complaining about their land getting expropriated, cracks in their houses because of explosions from the mine, and pollution in general.

MINES IN JAMA.

MINES IN JAMA. Portrait of Zoran Vojinovic and his wife. We visit Vojinović in his small house, just near the ‘Veliki Krivelj’ mine just outside of Bor, approx. 20 minutes from the city centre of Bor and 5-10 minutes from Miloš Savić’ home, he also lives right by the mining pit where there is an open green landscape just near his house. In 2018 the Chinese company Zijin Mining bought the state-owned mining company in Bor and its mines. And also another mine in a village nearby, Metovnica. Ever since that, production has gone up and locals are now complaining about their land getting expropriated, cracks in their houses because of explosions from the mine, and pollution in general.

MINES IN JAMA. Portrait of Milos Savic. We visit Savić at his home in a more poor neighborhood of Bor, approx. 5-10 minutes from the city centre of Bor. He lives in a small house with a lot of rubbish and apparent cracks in the walls of the house, which he says is from the explosions of the mining.He lives about 50 meters from the mining pit of the ‘Jama’ mine in the city of Bor.In 2018 the Chinese company Zijin Mining bought the state-owned mining company in Bor and its mines. And also another mine in a village nearby, Metovnica. Ever since that, production has gone up and locals are now complaining about their land getting expropriated, cracks in their houses because of explosions from the mine, and pollution in general.

MINES IN JAMA. The ‘Jama’ mine is the closest to the city centre of Bor, where it should be possible to get it from an angle where you can get both the city and the enormous mine in a picture.In 2018 the Chinese company Zijin Mining bought the state-owned mining company in Bor and its mines. And also another mine in a village nearby, Metovnica. Ever since that, production has gone up and locals are now complaining about their land getting expropriated, cracks in their houses because of explosions from the mine, and pollution in general.

MINES IN JAMA.

MINES IN JAMA. Portrait of Roksanda Tasic, 84 old, she lives in poor neighborhood of Bor, approx. 5-10 minutes from the city centre of Bor. Roksanda lives in a small house with a lot of apparent cracks in the walls of the house, which she says is from the explosions of the mining.In 2018 the Chinese company Zijin Mining bought the state-owned mining company in Bor and its mines. And also another mine in a village nearby, Metovnica. Ever since that, production has gone up and locals are now complaining about their land getting expropriated, cracks in their houses because of explosions from the mine, and pollution in general.

MINES IN JAMA. The ‘Jama’ mine is the closest to the city centre of Bor, where it should be possible to get it from an angle where you can get both the city and the enormous mine in a picture.In 2018 the Chinese company Zijin Mining bought the state-owned mining company in Bor and its mines. And also another mine in a village nearby, Metovnica. Ever since that, production has gone up and locals are now complaining about their land getting expropriated, cracks in their houses because of explosions from the mine, and pollution in general.

HOMOLJE MOUNTAINS. Portrait of Rade and Slavica Mosic, village Laznica, December 2021. The departure of people from those parts was especially felt by the house of the Mošić family from Laznica. "I am the first generation from my family to move out, although we prefer to say 'temporarily gone'," says Vladan Mosic. Mosic states that the tradition of emigrating from those areas began immediately after the Second World War, which is why he has been living abroad for several generations from some houses. He has them, he says, everywhere - Vienna, Germany, Canada, Australia…"Of course I miss everything, we as the first generation have the biggest emptiness, lack and regret for our homeland," says Mosic. "Already in the second and third generation, that feeling will be weaker," he added.

HOMOLJE MOUNTAINS. Ecology, gold and Homolje mountains: Will the "gold rush" make eastern Serbia sick?" This hill, the next one and several wreaths in a row," says Ivan Dunić, a lawyer from Žagubica, a town of about 2,000 inhabitants, at the foot of the Homolje Mountains. "It would all be excavated, it would all be a mine, miles in that direction," he added, pointing to the mountain.Dunić is one of the inhabitants of Žagubica, Laznica and the surrounding villages, who oppose the announcement of the construction of a gold mine in the Homolje mountains, known for honey, cheese, rich flora and fauna.It is about the mine "Potaj Čuka - Tisnica", the Canadian company Dundee precious metals, in which the use of cyanide was announced for the extraction of gold from the ore."Cyanides are extremely toxic compounds," Dragana Djordjevic of the Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy told the BBC in Serbian.Locals and environmental activists warn that the mine would endanger the Mlava and Peka basins, and thus all rivers in eastern Serbia, and potentially the Danube, where Mlava and Pek end their journey.The Dundee company for the BBC states in Serbian that "the concern about the use of cyanide in the processing of gold ore is understandable", but that it is a "safe technology" and that currently "only the possibility of its use is being investigated"."The project is based on the highest standards of the mining industry, care for the local community, protection of the environment and providing long-term benefits for Zagubica and Serbia," they say in a written response.

HOMOLJE MOUNTAINS. Ecology, gold and Homolje mountains: Will the "gold rush" make eastern Serbia sick?"This hill, the next one and several wreaths in a row," says Ivan Dunić, a lawyer from Žagubica, a town of about 2,000 inhabitants, at the foot of the Homolje Mountains. "It would all be excavated, it would all be a mine, miles in that direction," he added, pointing to the mountain.Dunić is one of the inhabitants of Žagubica, Laznica and the surrounding villages, who oppose the announcement of the construction of a gold mine in the Homolje mountains, known for honey, cheese, rich flora and fauna.It is about the mine "Potaj Čuka - Tisnica", the Canadian company Dundee precious metals, in which the use of cyanide was announced for the extraction of gold from the ore."Cyanides are extremely toxic compounds," Dragana Djordjevic of the Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy. Locals and environmental activists warn that the mine would endanger the Mlava and Peka basins, and thus all rivers in eastern Serbia, and potentially the Danube, where Mlava and Pek end their journey.The Dundee company for the BBC states in Serbian that "the concern about the use of cyanide in the processing of gold ore is understandable", but that it is a "safe technology" and that currently "only the possibility of its use is being investigated"."The project is based on the highest standards of the mining industry, care for the local community, protection of the environment and providing long-term benefits for Zagubica and Serbia," they say in a written response. Village Zagubica, December 2021, Serbia.

HOMOLJE MOUNTAINS. "This hill, the next one and several wreaths in a row," says Ivan Dunić, a lawyer from Žagubica, a town of about 2,000 inhabitants, at the foot of the Homolje Mountains. "It would all be excavated, it would all be a mine, miles in that direction," he added, pointing to the mountain.Dunić is one of the inhabitants of Žagubica, Laznica and the surrounding villages, who oppose the announcement of the construction of a gold mine in the Homolje mountains, known for honey, cheese, rich flora and fauna.It is about the mine "Potaj Čuka - Tisnica", the Canadian company Dundee precious metals, in which the use of cyanide was announced for the extraction of gold from the ore."Cyanides are extremely toxic compounds," Dragana Djordjevic of the Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy told the BBC in Serbian.Locals and environmental activists warn that the mine would endanger the Mlava and Peka basins, and thus all rivers in eastern Serbia, and potentially the Danube, where Mlava and Pek end their journey.The Dundee company for the BBC states in Serbian that "the concern about the use of cyanide in the processing of gold ore is understandable", but that it is a "safe technology" and that currently "only the possibility of its use is being investigated"."The project is based on the highest standards of the mining industry, care for the local community, protection of the environment and providing long-term benefits for Zagubica and Serbia," they say in a written response.

RIO TINTO. Demonstrators block a Loznica city centre in front of the major building to protest against Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto's plan to mine lithium in the country. Thousands of demonstrators blocked major roads across Serbia on November, 2021 as anger swelled over a government-backed plan to allow mining giant Rio Tinto to extract lithium from the Balkan nation.

RIO TINTO. In July, Rio Tinto announced that it would invest $2.4bn in a project in the Jadar valley, in western Serbia, overlooked by the Cer and Gučevo mountains, building what it says will be Europe’s biggest lithium mine, and one of the world’s largest on a greenfield site.The mine will involve the relocation of 81 households, voluntary or otherwise, and the purchase of fields of 293 landowners. A brochure circulated among those affected stated that expropriation of homes and land would be a “last resort”.The company has already bought up about 80% of the land and property, for what are said to be “unheard of” sums, according to Petkovik, amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros in some cases, based on payouts of €470 (£397) per sq metre of a property. Rio Tinto is offering 5% bonuses to those who complete within four months of an offer.About 30 homes have been bought in Petkovic’s village. Knowing their properties are destined to be destroyed, the owners rip out windows, doors and even roofs, leaving desolate scenes for those who have resisted Rio Tinto’s money or are yet to be offered anything. “Our neighbours did it so we had to,” said Živana Šakic, 67, who recently sold up.

RIO TINTO. Members of the association that fights against the construction of the mine and the residents of the village of Gornje Nedeljice have a meeting, October 13, 2021.Rio Tinto Group is developing the Jadar project near Loznica within which it intends to open an underground mine to exploit jadarite, from which lithium, a mineral used to produce batteries, will be extracted.Lithium is crucial for the transition to renewables, but mining it is environmentally costly, experts warn.

RIO TINTO. Jadar River in western Serbia. The proposed site for the Europe’s biggest lithium mine is on the bank of the Korenita River, a tributary of the Jadar.In July, Rio Tinto announced that it would invest $2.4bn in a project in the Jadar valley, in western Serbia, overlooked by the Cer and Gučevo mountains, building what it says will be Europe’s biggest lithium mine, and one of the world’s largest on a greenfield site.The team had been looking for borates, used in fertiliser and building materials, but found something unexpected: borates and lithium in one mineral, a combination that would later be given the name jadarite, after the valley.The project is gathering momentum. But anxious and angry campaigners, including the thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets of the Serbian cities of Loznica and Belgrade over recent months, say they are witnessing an unfolding disaster in the country’s “breadbasket”, responsible for around a fifth of total agricultural production, raising questions about the strange bedfellows being made in the maelstrom of the green revolution, and whether lessons have been learned about consumption and production that has made the transition to a decarbonised world so urgent.

RIO TINTO. Workers working on the excavation of the archeological site in the village Gornje Nedeljice, October 14, 2021. Rio Tinto Group is developing the Jadar project near Loznica within which it intends to open an underground mine to exploit jadarite, from which lithium, a mineral used to produce batteries, will be extracted.Lithium is crucial for the transition to renewables, but mining it is environmentally costly, experts warn.

RIO TINTO. Beekeeper Vladan Jakovljevic, 60, from Stupinica, 2km from the mining zone, whose 400 hives produced three tonnes of acacia honey last year, said the area where his bees feed would be left “desolate.”Ratko Ristic, a forestry professor has lobbied with others from the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts against the Jadar mine, claiming “the possible benefits for the state of Serbia is between €7m to €30m a year, the possible income from advanced agricultural activity in the same area would be more than €80m a year without pollution or relocation”A petition against the mine has more than 130,000 signatures, 2% of the Serbian population. The company has already had to pay small sums in damages due to leakage in fields where it has carried out research.

RIO TINTO. Rio Tinto Group is developing the Jadar project near Loznica within which it intends to open an underground mine to exploit jadarite, from which lithium, a mineral used to produce batteries, will be extracted. Lithium is crucial for the transition to renewables, but mining it is environmentally costly, experts warn.

RIO TINTO. Zlatko Kokanović does not want to sell it in his forest, which he keeps from Rio Tinto, because he inherited it from his grandfather, and also because there is an archeological site in the forest area.Rio Tinto Group is developing the Jadar project near Loznica within which it intends to open an underground mine to exploit jadarite, from which lithium, a mineral used to produce batteries, will be extracted.Lithium is crucial for the transition to renewables, but mining it is environmentally costly, experts warn.