July 1, 2011 - Balkans reported that Mr Nebojsa Ciric Serbian minister of economy and regional development and Mr Oliver Dulic minister of environment, mining and spatial planning, were present when the foundation stone was laid marking the beginning of construction of a new smeltery and a sulphuric acid factory at the mining and metallurgical complex RTB Bor.  Mr Ciric recalled that besides investing in the smeltery, the government this year invested more than EUR 30 million in mines in Bor and Majdanpek as well as signed an agreement on the construction of new copper flotation lines in these two towns.  He announced that works to revive Cerovo copper mine near Bor are to begin soon and once they are completed, Serbia will have the most modern copper mine in Europe which will hire young people and experts from the entire Serbia. The construction of the new facilities will cost EUR 135 million and these funds will be procured from a loan allocated by the Canadian EDC Bank. Guarantees were provided by the Serbian government.  Mr Ciric said that the new smelting plant should be finished by 2014, adding that the contractor company is Energoprojekt, while the copper smeltery will be built by Canadian company SNC Lavalin.  Mr Dulic underlined that the new smelting plant will operate according to EU standards and this town will stop being the black ecological spot of Serbia. With the construction of a new sulfuric acid plant, 98.5% of sulfur dioxide will be refined into sulfuric acid. The this percentage at the moment is only 30%. With the new smelting plant and the current price of copper on the stock exchange, RTB Bor could start making up to USD 1 billion per year.  He said that this is the biggest investment in mining and the Serbian government is planning to invest EUR 3 billion in this sector in the course of next year.

June 29, 2011 - Serbian Minister of Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric and Minister of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic were present yesterday when the foundation stone was laid marking the beginning of construction of a new smeltery and a sulphuric acid factory at the mining and metallurgical complex RTB Bor.   Ciric recalled that besides investing in the smeltery, the government this year invested more than €30 million in mines in Bor and Majdanpek, as well as signed an agreement on the construction of new copper flotation lines in these two towns.  He announced that works to revive Cerovo copper mine near Bor are to begin soon and once they are completed, Serbia will have the most modern copper mine in Europe which will hire young people and experts from the entire Serbia, he observed.  The construction of the new facilities will cost €135 million and these funds will be procured from a loan allocated by the Canadian EDC Bank. Guarantees were provided by the Serbian government.  

Ciric said that the new smelting plant should be finished by 2014, adding that the contractor company is Energoprojekt , while the copper smeltery will be built by Canadian company SNC-Lavalin.  Dulic underlined that the new smelting plant will operate according to EU standards and this town will stop being the black ecological spot of Serbia.  With the construction of a new sulfuric acid plant, 98.5% of sulfur dioxide will be refined into sulfuric acid, he said, adding the this percentage at the moment is only 30%.   With the new smelting plant and the current price of copper on the stock exchange, RTB Bor could start making up to $1 billion per year.  He said that this is the biggest investment in mining and the Serbian government is planning to invest €3 billion in this sector in the course of next year.  Serbia is a country rich in ore whose capacities are underused, Dulic noted.

January 21, 2011 - Outotec has signed a contract with SNC-Lavalin, a Canadian engineering and construction company, to design and deliver a new copper flash smelting furnace and related services to RTB Bor's smelter in Serbia. The contract value exceeds EUR 60 million.  RTB Bor is currently operating an old reverb type copper smelter and plans to replace it with Outotec® Flash Smelting Furnace, which will significantly improve the environmental performance of the plant.  Outotec's turnkey delivery includes engineering and license for a new flash smelting furnace, equipment supplies, procurement, as well as construction and commissioning services. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2013 and the new facility will produce annually 80,000 tons of copper anode while reducing liquid and gaseous emission levels to European standards.   "This contract demonstrates the strong drive for sustainability in the metallurgical industry. Outotec® Flash Smelting technology is the cleanest method available for the treatment of copper sulfide ores. In addition, it provides considerable savings in energy consumption compared to other corresponding technologies. With a mission of sustainable use of Earth's natural resources, we are continuously developing our technologies and services to help our customers, such as RTB Bor, provide a healthier environment for the citizens", says Outotec CEO Pertti Korhonen.  

December 13, 2010 - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic said on Friday that reconstruction of the copper flotation facility in the RTB Bor mining and metallurgical complex and construction of a new sulphur factory will boost the efficiency of copper exploitation.  After visiting RTB Bor and meeting with representatives of the local self-government and the company, Dinkic said that this will help RTB Bor become the leading cooper producer in southeastern Europe.  He also highlighted the importance of today’s visit made by the Ministry’s delegation, representatives from SNC Lavalin , Export Development Canada (EDC), the World Bank and the Canadian Ambassador in Serbia to Bor.  Dinkic recalled that the Export Development Canada approved a loan of €175 million for building a new smelting plant and sulphur factory, which will help finally resolve the problem of environmental pollution in this town.  By building these two facilities, emission of sulphur dioxide will be reduced 400 times and of carbon dioxide up to 40 times, he underlined.  The Serbian parliament has already ratified the loan, so the first €23 million will be withdrawn by the end of the year, another €100 million next year, while the rest will be withdrawn in 2012.  The Deputy Prime Minister confirmed that an agreement was reached with the RTB Bor management on how to start reconstruction of copper ore flotation facility, given the fact that the price of copper on the world market reached a record high of nearly $9,000 per tonne and is expected to further increase because of the increasing use of metal in "green" technologies.  He specified that €17 million will be invested next year in the new automatic machine for flotation, which will reduce energy consumption and increase the efficiency of copper ore up to 90%.  RTB Bor’s new smelter and sulfuric acid plant will become the largest copper producer in Southeast Europe, the Minister said.

December 10, 2010 - Serbia plans to draw the first tranche of a $175 million-euro ($231 million) loan from Export Development Canada, the country’s export-financing arm, later this month to start building a new copper smelting unit and a sulphuric acid plant, Deputy Prime Minister Mladjan Dinkic said today.  The government plans to draw 23 million euros this month, 100 million euros in 2011 and the rest in 2012, dinkic was cited as saying in an e-mailed statement issued by his cabinet.  “With the new smelter and the sulphuric acid plant, sulphur-dioxide emissions will be 400 times lower and carbon-dioxide emissions will be 40 times lower,” Dinkic said during the visit to RTB Bor, Serbia’s unprofitable copper mining and smelting complex, which the government had dailed to privatize.  EDC had approved the 10-year loan, with a three-year grace period, after the Canadian SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. was chosen as the contractor and Finnish supplier of engineering services Outotec Oyj as the subcontractor for the project.

September 20, 2010 - A source of wealth for more than a century as home to one of Europe's largest copper mines, Serbia's Bor has struggled for years to attract foreign investment and heal its soiled environment.  RTB Bor, the state-owned company that thrived two decades ago as Yugoslavia's largest copper mine and smelter, fell into disrepair during the 1990s wars, international embargo and mismanagement under President Slobodan Milosevic.  "Our technology dates from 1961 and 1971 and we are in dire need of renewing it," Chief Executive Blagoje Spaskovski told Reuters.  Decades of mining with Soviet-era technology have scarred the region, home to about 60,000 people and around 250 km (155.3 miles) southeast of Belgrade.  "We went decades without investment, without new mines and technology such as a new foundry," Slobodan Milosavljevic, Serbia's trade minister, told Reuters.  Serbia's efforts to sell RTB Bor failed in 2007 and 2008 as two potential buyers, Romania's Cuprom and Austria's A-Tec, failed to meet terms of the tender.  In June, the RTB Bor and Canada's SNC Lavalin signed a 175 million euro ($210.7 million) contract to build a copper smelter and a sulphuric acid factory. About 135 million euros will come from a loan from Export Development Canada, Canada's export credit agency.  Serbia has pledged the remaining 40 million euros as well as another 27 million euros in mining equipment.   "Without 400 or 500 million euros (from privatization) , plus investments in the smelter, we will rather continue to dig and process (copper) alone," Milosavljevic said. 
In the 1980s, RTB Bor had an annual output of about 180,000 tonnes and disposal of about 5,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid, 350 tonnes of arsenic and 35 tonnes of zinc in vast dumps of processed ore.  Studies of the Borska Reka river show its riverbed is now so heavily polluted with copper, iron, aluminum, lead and cadmium, that more than 60 percent of Bor's fertile soil is irreparably damaged, said Dragan Jankucic of the Agenda 21 environmental group.   Environmentalists fear the Borska Reka could poison more than just its immediate surroundings.  "It flows to the Timok River and then to the Danube. If toxic waste from processed ore dumps goes into the Danube Basin through the Borska Reka riverbed, the damage could be disastrous," Jankucic said.  Rosa Milojkovic from the village of Slatina, just outside Bor said her cattle would die immediately if they drank the river's brown and grey water.  "When the river flooded our fields, we had to remove all the soil and bring new dirt from kilometers away," she said.  According to 2007 research by the LEAP, an environmental group, samples from Bor's population showed excess levels of arsenic in their urine and blood, with most suffering from at least two recurring pollution-related diseases.  "There are so many young people sick in our village ... Women are dying from cancers and men from heart attacks," said villager Milojkovic.  Bor children are also more prone to illness than any other age group, with 71 percent diagnosed with related illnesses at some point, most often with respiratory diseases, another government-sponsored study showed.  "Women usually first notice sulphur dioxide pollution when it rains. With water it forms sulphuric acid and their stockings start to melt," Spaskovski said.  In an effort to boost environmental protection, the World Bank has granted RTB Bor a 10-year, interest-free loan of 35 million euros on condition that 25 million euros are allocated to resolving the most urgent problems.  "Some efforts have been made in 2009 and 2010 and things have improved a tad," said environmentalist Jankucic.  The development of a new smelter and sulphuric acid factory should also help. "Both projects will greatly improve environmental protection," Bor CEO Spaskovski said.  "Sulphur oxide ... kills in time. One of the first conditions from our tender that was accepted by the SNC Lavalin was that the usage of sulphur oxide must be at 98.5 percent and its emissions reduced."  Spaskovski also said that the company now wants "to return Borska Reka to a condition which was given to it by God or nature. Waste dumps for processed ore ... must be covered with a layer of greenery."  The future of Bor in the European Union applicant country remains a big question mark important for the wider economy.  The jobs at RTB Bor are vital in its impoverished area of eastern Serbia and the government wants to avoid stirring up protests ahead of 2012 elections. Yet government officials are also questioning its long-term feasibility.  "The key issue is do we have more reserves of copper or not there or in the vicinity. If not, there's no justification for investments ... if there's copper, then we need to invest much more," Trade Minister Milosavljevic said.

June 11, 2010 - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic attended the signing of a contract between representatives of the RTB Bor mining and metallurgical complex and the Canadian company SNC Lavalin concerning the designing and construction of a new smelting facility and sulphur factory in Bor Thursday.  The agreement was signed by CEO of RTB Bor Blagoje Spaskovski and Lavalin representative Walter Mutler.  Speaking after the signing, Dinkic said that the project will cost €175 million, of which €135 million will come from a loan from Canada’s export credit agency Export Development Canada and €40 million will be provided by the Serbian government.  The loan is to be paid over 10 years, with a grace period of three years and an annual interest rate of 2.9%, he specified.  The deadline for finishing the project is 36 months and work will begin on 1 July, he stated, adding that the project will lead to cost effective production and ecological benefits.  This investment is a turning point in the development of RTB Bor and Serbia, considering that the construction of the new smelter and factory will create a large number of jobs, observed Dinkic.  The project will help increase the utilisation level of raw materials - gold, silver and sulphur dioxide - from 9% to 98% and it is estimated that RTB Bor will increase its annual profit by $26.2 million, he stressed.  Mutler emphasised that the entire region will benefit from this project, the first positive effects becoming visible over the next few months.  Bor will receive the best in technology and its people will be able to breathe cleaner air, Mutler declared, adding that hundreds, even thousands of new jobs will also become available.  The signing of the agreement was also attended by Canadian Ambassador to Serbia John Morrison. Source: Government

June 10, 2010 - Serbia on Thursday contracted Canadian SNC Lavalin construction company to build a new smelter and a sulphuric acid factory at its largest copper miner RTB Bor, the economy ministry said.  Most of the 175 million euro (212 million dollar) project will be financed from a loan by Export Development Canada (EDC) bank, while 40 million euros are to be provided by RTB Bor and the Serbian government, the ministry said in a statement.  The smelter will be completed in three years and is expected to increase RTB Bor's profit at least 20 million euros per year, Serbian Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said.  Serbia gave up planned privatisation of the copper mine after four tenders failed due to a lack of interest of foreign investors.  The mining company was a key contributor to Serbia's industrial sector before the collapse of communist Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.  But it became a burden on the country's struggling economy because of mismanagement and international sanctions during the 1990s regime of late president Slobodan Milosevic.  Due to a lack of investment and outdated technology, RTB Bor's copper annual production dropped to less than 40,000 tonnes in 2005 from more than 170,000 tonnes before 2000.  Its sale had been a contentious issue among Serbian and international experts. The company which employs around 4,000 workers has an estimated debt of about 600 million dollars, two-thirds of it to the state.  After Milosevic's ouster in 2000, the World Bank advised Serbia to close RTB Bor down unless willing investors could be found.

April 7, 2010 - Together with Canadian Ambassador to Belgrade John Morrison and representatives of the SNC-Lavalin Company, Dinkic visited the RTB Bor mining complex, for which a new investment cycle has been announced, including the construction of a new smelting facility, a refinery and a sulphuric acid factory.  Dinkic said that the construction of new facilities will be financed via a very favourable loan granted by the Export Development Canada (EDC) bank, in the amount of €135 million. The loan was secured thanks to guarantees provided by the Republic of Serbia, Dinkic noted adding that the contractor is Canadian company SNC-Lavalin.  The Deputy Prime Minister said that this is the most serious investment cycle in the last 30 years, specifying that €27 million will be invested in mining equipment.  During Tuesday's  tour of the Veliki Krivelj open pit, Dinkic officially put a new damper into operation. The new equipment installed includes ten trucks that can transport 220 tonnes each, two excavators, two bulldozers, a drill and a grader.   Investment in this mine is an investment in the future because there will be new jobs for young engineers and new employees, which will contribute to the development of the entire region of eastern Serbia, he said.  He added that this investment will also provide a healthier environment for the citizens of Bor.  It is important to invest in Bor, because copper is a strategic raw material, with its value on the world stock market having recovered faster than that of other metals, said the Minister and explained that copper is increasingly used in the production of clean technologies.   The Minister said that the agreement on financing is to be signed with the EDC by 20 May, after which the document should be ratified in the Serbian parliament.  The EDC’s loan will be granted under very favourable conditions, with a grace period of three years, 14 semi-annual payments and an effective interest rate of approximately 2.9% per annum, concluded Dinkic. Source: Government of Serbia. Source: Government of Serbia.

October 19, 2009 - Serbia will invest 160 million euros in RTB Bor copper through Canadian financing, Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said.   "135 million euros will be invested in a new smelter and sulfuric acid plant, which should be built in two to three years. The rest of the money is going to be used for the purchase of mining equipment," Dinkic told reporters.  "We had talks with the Canadian Agency for Export Insurance (www.edc.ca) and they offered us a loan on favorable terms. So we will have that 160 million euros from Canada."  The state will retain ownership of RTB Bor for some time and continue investments as the price of copper on world markets has increased, the minister added.  Serbia tried three times to privatize the company but each attempt was canceled due to violation of the agreement or withdrawal by interested parties.

November 12, 2008 - Serbia's Privatisation Agency launched a tender for state-owned cooper mine and smelter RTB Bor for the fourth time, with the starting price set at EUR 232 million, the Privatisation Agency said.  The deadline for placing bids for the 67% of RTB Bor, was set for January 30, 2009.  Companies involved in copper production, trading or processing with 2007 revenuers of more than EUR 393 million will be allowed to bid, the agency said.  The Serbian government will keep the remainder of the shares including the right to veto over important decisions such as relocations of facilities and production stoppages.  The prospective buyer of RTB Bor will be required to take over all EUR 309 million worth of company debts and to complete welfare and environmental protection programs.