By Ana Vilenica, Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, engaged at Södertörn University in Sweden on the SustainAction project
Serbia has one of the lowest life expectancies in Europe, with people living, on average, about five years less than the EU average. Polluted air, a degraded environment, an increased risk of poverty, and premature mortality are becoming the social costs of development. Predatory extractivism arises when the pursuit of profit through the extreme exploitation of natural resources systematically undermines the conditions that enable the reproduction of life and future production, exhausting both nature and human labour.
While risks to generating profit are reduced, they are simultaneously transferred onto life itself. Death has become a necessary condition of the predatory model of economic development that prioritises profit – a model developing on the European periphery to which Serbia belongs. Cities and villages are being killed and are killing, as we saw during the canopy collapse; workers are being killed on construction sites; nature and living beings are being killed.
The environment damaged even before the opening of the mine
The Homolje Mountains have become one of the epicentres of predatory extractivism. It has been documented that exploration activities by the Canadian company Dundee had already damaged the environment in Homolje even before the mine itself was opened. The company has been conducting exploration at this site since 2005 and during that time, through modifications and successive extensions of exploration permits, has secured more than 20 years of continuous exploration, despite the law stipulating that an exploration period may last a maximum of eight years under a single licence.
During this period, more than 2,000 exploration boreholes were drilled, which in itself represents a serious environmental issue. In addition, wind farms are rapidly being constructed in Homolje, leading to relentless deforestation and the destruction of plant and animal habitats by heavy machinery. This form of infrastructural violence is known as wind extractivism, a subtype of green extractivism – extractivism justified by the need for the so-called green transition and the prevention of climate change.
I last visited Homolje in mid-August when I met with rangers from the Mlava Army (Mlavska vojska) to discuss the visit by representatives of the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, as well as the construction of wind farms. The issue of the impact of mining exploration and the planned gold mine in Homolje came before the Bern Convention, part of the Council of Europe, through a complaint filed in October 2022. The complaint was lodged by Earth Thrive, the Guardians of Homolje (Čuvari Homolja), the Mlava Army, and the Earth Law Center, pointing to Serbia’s violation of its obligations under the Bern Convention, particularly regarding the protection of habitats and aquatic ecosystems from the impacts of mining exploration.
The Bern Convention offered to organise a seminar in Serbia to inform people about the habitats of protected species and the reasons why issuing mining licences in these areas is harmful – an offer ignored by the Serbian Government, as representatives of the Mlava Army told me. The case was subsequently escalated to the status of a so-called “possible case” – a higher status than, for instance, the Jadar project, which is also subject to an ongoing process – and is now just one step away from becoming an “open case”.
Worrying situation on the ground
Representatives of the complainants, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Institute for Nature Conservation, the Bern Convention, and Dundee first inspected the location where rangers had repeatedly caught Dundee workers operating at night, even though such activities at that site are prohibited, primarily due to bird nesting. The company explained that they had relocated from that site and now, for the purpose of equipment maintenance, turn the machinery on for 15 minutes at regular intervals during the night. They visited a household where company and independent analyses found heavy metals in the water intake. The landowner told them that his wife had recently passed away from stomach cancer.
Furthermore, many people in nearby areas have reported cases of livestock poisoning. They then visited Dumitru Creek, into which the company had discharged drilling mud – an event characterised as an incident by the state inspector, despite camouflage hoses fitted with taps being found on site. Following this, they inspected three locations where the Mlava Army found three new pumps drawing water from the creek, despite the lack of water permits. The pumps had been moved from creeks in the Pek river basin to the other side of the hill, onto streams feeding the Crna Reka, which belongs to the Mlava river basin and has since dried up – an incident in its own right. Activists had filmed the pumps in operation the previous evening, whereas during the visit, the hoses were disconnected and their casings empty.
They also visited the Valja Saka site in Homolje, which offers a view of the cumulative impact of mining exploration activities and other megaprojects. Aside from mining activities, the Crni Vrh and Jasikovo wind farms have an extremely destructive impact. Behind both projects stands Nikola Petrović, former general director of Elektromreža Srbije (EMS) and best man (kum) to the current President of Serbia. Petrović entered the renewable energy sector through small hydroelectric power plants, where he held ownership stakes in ten projects. In Homolje, as locals on the ground point out, he trades in site locations, having already sold the Crni Vrh wind farm to a Chinese company.
I was able to witness the scale of destruction firsthand during a visit to the highest peak of Homolje, which was flattened to construct the Jasikovo wind farm. As we climbed towards the peak along access roads approximately six metres wide – built by clearing forest and removing vegetation – we were constantly covered in dust by trucks working intensively on infrastructure construction. The visit concluded with a round table at the spring of the Mlava, which, during those final days, was once again turbid. During my stay, we also found a dead heron at the spring. The Mlava Army suspects the cause is once again the presence of heavy metals, which could have entered the watercourse via the Crna Reka, a sinking river, as a result of mining activities.
A clear indicator of the comprador elite’s behaviour in Serbia
Representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection welcomed the Bern Convention transparently and in line with EU directives, as stated on their official page. However, during the visit, representatives of the Institute for Nature Conservation met the Bern Convention delegation on Dundee’s premises, according to the rangers. This situation is a clear indicator of the behaviour of comprador elites in Serbia, who aim to appear accommodating to international institutions on the one hand, while participating in predatory projects on the other.
Mining extractivism and wind extractivism in Homolje are part of the phenomenon of intersecting grey and green extractivism. In Serbia, energy production infrastructure is often closely linked to mining infrastructure, whether directly or indirectly. In the case of the Jasikovo wind farm in Homolje and Dundee’s exploration boreholes, the wind farm’s access roads hint at this connection via a route linking the exploration boreholes, as explained by self-organised rangers. For this reason, as well as due to existing mining activities in eastern Serbia, it is essential to assess the effects of grey and green projects cumulatively.
Worldwide, nature conservation is becoming increasingly urgent due to climate change and rapid biodiversity loss. The EU’s target to protect 30 per cent of land and sea areas by 2030 has triggered a series of accelerated nature conservation projects, which are not, however, without their own contradictions: protection can be accompanied by new forms of territorial control, the commodification of nature, and the exclusion of local communities.
At the same time, a reverse process of de-conservation is unfolding in Serbia: existing protection regimes are being weakened or diluted to make room for mining, energy, and infrastructure projects. The question of nature conservation is not merely a matter of preserving individual species or landscapes, but a question of the very conditions required for the reproduction of life, as opposed to a development model in which life, health, and ecosystems are treated as mere resources for profit generation. The Mlava Army does not expect too much from the Bern Convention.
This process helps systemise evidence, carried out alongside direct action. Following the round table, representatives of the Bern Convention proposed creating a working group in which they would act as mediators. Activists rejected this because, as they explained, a corporation is not an entity with which one negotiates. The state of Serbia is responsible for the situation. Dialogue with the state can only take place if the project is permanently halted and all future issuance of mining permits is prevented, allowing for the remediation of damage already done.
(Radar, 02.09.2026)
https://radar.nova.rs/drustvo/crni-planovi-za-homolje-dandi-rudarenje/