Minister of Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric and Minister of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning Oliver Dulic were present today 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.