Activities in Serbia

Project for Management of mining waste tailing damp at the region Bor

Background of the Project:

Serbia is the largest copper producer in Balkan region and it accounts for 50% production in the region. At the same time, Serbia is facing the problems with large amount of solid, liquid and gases waste produced in the process of exploration, mining, processing and smelting.

The industrial activities in Bor, in particularly those by the mining and the smelter complex, have resulted in substantive negative impacts on the environment (including for air, water and soil) in the region as well as having raised serious concerns about associated health effects of the pollution at large. Environmental impact can be described as regional and cross border, because of the nearness to large rivers (Timok and Danube) and to Bulgarian and Romanian border. The fact that the main polluter is also the main employer in the area highlights the need to solve the environmental problems in a wider economic and social context.

Sustainable development of mine activities which contributes to the reinforcement of the environmental protection and rising of the living standards in the region, as well as development of up-to dated reprocessing processes for treatment of flotation tailings to establish methods for reducing effects in Bor.

• Project type: Dispatch of Science Technology Researchers
• Project objective: Current environmental impact by the mine tailings will be evaluated and mitigation measures for environmental impact will be created.
• Project sites: Region Bor
• Duration: August 2011 – August 2013
• Executing Organization: International Center for Research and Education on Mineral and Energy Resources, Akita University and Institute for Mining and Metallurgy Bor
• Outputs:

1. Improvement of methods for environmental evaluation along Krivelj, Bor and Timok Rivers to establish base for environmental evaluation.
2. Preliminary environmental evaluation of river water and sediments from Bor to Danube River.
3. Defining and monitoring the problem of the contamination of the soil, water and river caused by the uncared dump in the region of Bor.