“The value of the confirmed reserves of mineral raw materials in Serbia is close to 200 billion dollars, and the task of the state is to create conditions for mining to develop.”
This was said by Minister Zorana Mihajlovic today. “What we are looking for is that the state and citizens benefit from it, through a healthy environment, higher incomes, and employment and quality investments.”
She assessed that the main goal of the amendments to the Law on Mining and Geological Research is to develop this area, and for the state to have higher revenues from that, and to attract quality investments in mining.
She added that the amendments to the Law will take into account the mineral wealth of Serbia and enable all procedures to be transparent and efficient and to prevent any kind of abuse.
“We want to create conditions for mining to develop and therefore introduce e-mining in order to have more efficient and simpler procedures. But we want no one to be privileged if they want to explore and then exploit an ore, and therefore we will propose that “shorten the duration of investigative rights, and not have someone do it for eight or nine years and occupy a certain area,” she said.
As she stated, now there are fees that are paid to the ministry per square meter, but the state has little money from that today.
“It is OK for investors to come and investigate, but the state must benefit from all that and have much higher revenues,” Mihajlovic said on TV Happy.
She added that the amendment to the law will also refer to the exploitation of strategic mineral raw materials, for which the Government of Serbia will conduct the procedure in the future in accordance with the Law on Public Private Partnership and Concessions.
The Minister emphasized that she will take more into account the mineral wealth of Serbia, B92 reports.
