China is set to invest billions in a copper and gold mine in eastern Serbia, marking another dramatic increase in Beijing’s investment in the Balkan country.
According to a memorandum of understanding signed this weekend in Xiamen, the Chinese public company Zijin Mining will invest 3.8 billion dollars (3.5 billion euros) in the Bor mining complex, in the east of the country.
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China is set to invest billions in a copper and gold mine in eastern Serbia, marking another dramatic increase in Beijing’s investment in the Balkan country.
According to a memorandum of understanding signed this weekend in Xiamen, the Chinese public company Zijin Mining will invest 3.8 billion dollars (3.5 billion euros) in the Bor mining complex, in the east of the country.
“Through this memorandum… Serbia will align itself with the largest European producers of copper and gold, but will also create opportunities for new investments,” said Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic, Serbian Minister of Mines and energy, in a press release posted online.
In 2018, Zijin purchased a majority stake in the Bor copper and gold mining operation after years of unsuccessful efforts by Belgrade to privatize the struggling operation.
Serbia’s state mining company was once a mainstay of its industrial sector before the collapse of communist Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
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But it became a burden on the country’s struggling economy due to mismanagement and international sanctions under late President Slobodan Milosevic’s rule in the 1990s.
Copper plays a key role in renewable energy and green technologies due to its thermal and electrical conductivity properties, leading to increased investment in mining operations across the world.
Beijing has invested billions in Serbia and neighboring Balkan countries in recent years, hoping to expand its economic footprint in Central Europe.
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Serbia has been quick to take advantage of China’s interests, as it seeks to woo a wide range of investors amid the bitter war between East and West for influence in the Balkans .
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