The Minister of Mining and Energy, Zorana Mihajlovic, estimated that thanks to the newly opened mine Cukar Peki near Bor, Serbia will “at some point” become the second largest producer of copper in Europe.
She also assessed that in terms of gold production, Serbia will “get closer” to Finland as the largest European producer.
“The Cukaru Peki deposit in the upper zone is one of the richest deposits of copper and gold ore in the world, and it has invested 474 million dollars in the new Zijin mining mine. Thanks to this project, Serbia will at some point become the second largest producer of copper in Europe, right after Poland, and our share in the production of this ore will increase from five to 18 percent,” Mihajlovic added.
According to her, copper, together with lithium, is one of the critical mineral raw materials that will be used in all new technologies that include decarbonization.
“Serbia has huge reserves of these strategically important metals, which is important for positioning in the world in the future. This especially refers to lithium, where the goal is for Serbia not only to be an exporter of raw materials, but to develop the entire production chain, including electric batteries and electric cars,” said Mihajlovic, BizLife reports.
