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A couple of hundred kilometres south-east of the Serbian capital of Belgrade lies the city of Bor; home to one of the largest reserves of copper in the world, and one of the most egregious examples of environmental racism towards a Romani community anywhere in Europe.
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In Bor, a community of more than 300 Roma find themselves unwillingly at the centre of a story of corruption, unscrupulous government contracts, and environmental degradation in a country with a regime on the brink of potential collapse. As the forces of government, a multinational mining company, and the local municipality converge on Bor, it is the Roma living on the edge of the mine who are left to suffer the indignations of segregation and pollution. Their story exposes the sharp edge of environmental racism in Europe.
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Copper and other valuable metals have been mined from the earth around Bor for over a hundred years, with the small town expanding to the size of a small city largely on account of the mining industry. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the mine continued to be state-owned.
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On 31st August 2018, everything changed. The Chinese multinational Zijin Mining Group Co., Limited took a 63% controlling interest in the company as part of a $1.26 billion deal with the Serbian government. The name of the mine changed to ‘Serbia Zijin Bor Copper Mine’ and that year the mining operation produced a net income of around €760 million, with most of the profit coming from the conversion of debt into new shares. The exact details of the public tender and what was in the contract that was drawn up between the Government of Serbia and Zijin Mining are not publicly known. What is known is the record of Zijin around the world for grievous human rights abuses, exploitation, and environmental harm. The company faces accusations of forced labour of Uyghur, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz workers in China; forced labour of workers in Tibet; forced evictions of villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo to make way for cobalt mines; poisoning the Tingjiang River in China with toxic waste and threatening water supplies and fishing industries; and allegations of pouring toxic sludge into tunnels in Colombia where informal miners were working.
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Since January 2019, Bor has experienced excessive air pollution, with sulphur dioxide (SO2) levels reaching more than 2,000 micrograms per cubic meter, well above the maximum limit of 350µg (mean average per cubic metre per hour on more than 24 times in a year). Sulphur dioxide pollution irritates the skin and mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. It can cause respiratory problems such as bronchitis and cause cardiovascular disease in vulnerable people. Other heavy metals, such as Arsenic, Lead, and Cadmium are also released into the environment in Bor, as well as good-old-fashioned PM10 (fine pollution particulates in the air). To add to the dystopian, late-capitalism vibes, there is even an electronic board in the centre of the city that details the air pollution levels of each part of the city with a corresponding smiley-face or sad-face emoticon displayed alongside.
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The community [in Bor] faces serious environmental and health issues arising from the mine’s operations. The housing units are located immediately next to the mining zone of the ‘Jama’ copper mining complex, separated only by a fence positioned metres from the residential buildings. The air quality is severely compromised due to continuous backfilling activities at the old, open pit mine which is nearby. Large amounts of tailings (the waste dust from mining) are released into the air and settle inside homes, making breathing difficult and maintaining hygiene challenging.
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In addition to air pollution, waste water runoff from the mining process is directed into a small basin uphill from the Romani community. Frequently, waters flood down the hill and between the buildings creating rivers of muddy slurry as the drainage and sewer networks in the community are no longer functional.
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When Zijin Mining bought Bor Copper Mine, they also bought the land around it. This resulted in the land that the Romani community at Herderova Street live on being transferred to the private ownership of the company. The buildings on Herderova Street had already been removed from the housing registry and erased from urban planning documents in the 1990s, after they were deemed structurally unsafe. But the sale of the land to Zijin meant the buildings and land were no longer publicly owned. The land was literally sold from under the feet of the Romani community.
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Zijin Mining is the company whose management seems to be completely invisible. Even contacting Zijin is an exercise in diplomacy, as the company has a public relations department that seems to only selectively phase into existence to issue a press release now and then. Journalists requesting interviews or statements from Zijin have in the past been directed to the Chinese Embassy, owing to the company being state-owned. Meanwhile, legal responsibility for resolving the situation in Herderova Street is a tangled mess brought about by the merging of state and corporate interests in Bor. This is further complicated by various government ministries appearing to have washed their hands of the issue and passing the buck onto a seemingly infinite number of ‘competent departments’.
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After years of trying to meet with the local municipality, Zijin Mining, and even President Vučić, [one of the residents in Bor] says that those with the power need to see for themselves the conditions of the community and work with the residents in cooperation to find alternatives for relocation:
“I don’t know who we should complain to, or send letters to. We’ve tried to fix something, to do something, many times. We sent letters, the National Council and the municipality, everyone is aware of this problem. But, it is what it is. I would really ask the competent institutions, both the city of Bor and of course, the Mayor of Bor. It would be desirable for them to come once and see the living situation of Roma in this settlement.”
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