‘Mining for a better society’ – reads the sign on a billboard outside the headquarters of the Chinese mining giant Zijin (Zijin), in Bor, eastern Serbia.
The billboard is dominated by a landscape of the nearby Bor Lake, overgrown with greenery, where Zijin’s hotel is also located.
With the increase in mining activities in eastern Serbia, the Chinese company is also investing in tourist facilities, while at the same time being met with accusations of environmental pollution. ‘Buying social responsibility,’ is how Jasna Tomić, an activist from Krivaja, one of the villages affected by mining, describes Zijin’s investments.
‘All of this, like the mine itself, is for the fulfilment of their (Zijin’s) needs and their business goals,’ she adds.
The Jezero Hotel, along with thousands of other plots in and around Bor, used to be state-owned. Its owner was the Bor Mining and Smelting Basin (RTB Bor), the only producer of copper and precious metals in Serbia. The copper mine and smelter complex has been majority-owned by Zijin for eight years, under the name Ziđin Koper (Serbia Zijin Copper). Following the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement, the state retained just over a third of the shares.
And it handed over RTB’s assets, including hotels, land and apartments, to Zijin for management.
For this reason, Dejan Lazar, an activist and mining engineer from Bor, describes the contract as ‘poor’. ‘Some facilities, which should be state-owned and are of public interest, have passed into the ownership of Zijin because of the poor contract. An audit of that contract needs to be carried out,’ Lazar believes.
The City of Bor, the Ministry of Mining and the Chinese company did not respond to Radio Free Europe (RFE) regarding questions about the contract with Zijin and the investments, by the time of publication. Thousands of hectares and square metres owned by Zijin
An analysis by RSE has shown that Zijin has more than 34,000 plots of land in eastern Serbia – of which it is the owner or user.
Since 2021, the wholly Chinese-owned Zijin Mining has also been operating in the Bor area, with the newly opened Čukaru Peki mine.
Thousands of plots of land, which Zijin Mining has purchased in the villages around the mine, are intended for its expansion, while Čukaru Pekit is described as the first ‘green mine’ in Serbia.
The authorities in Belgrade see Beijing as a partner and approve the Chinese mining giant’s access to resources, while the company has stated that it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in modernisation and in opening new mines and facilities.
Money has also been invested in applying environmental standards, in order to, as they point out, reduce the consequences of mining to a minimum.
Many citizens in Bor and the surrounding area, on the other hand, fear that pollution could leave them without fertile land and clean air. Where did Zijin’s hotels and restaurants come from? The answer to that question dates back to the second half of the last century, when there was an expansion of industry and the state mining complex in Bor in socialist Yugoslavia.
‘Whenever the price of copper was high, Bor did very well, bringing profit to the company, the state and the people of Bor, and everyone was happy,’ describes Milorad Filipović, a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, for RSE. The profits made during the 1970s and 1980s were invested in the community and adds:” The money went on consumption, on building hotels and flats, and on buying land. However, when the price of copper starts to fall, that’s when losses and stagnation set in.”
The accumulated losses of the mining complex, coupled with the collapse of the country’s political and economic system, became a decades-long problem.
‘The current regime decided to solve the problem by handing over the entire Bor assets, as a package, to the Chinese,’ points out Professor Filipović. The inventory, which, prior to the Strategic Partnership Agreement between Serbia and Zijin, was supposed to separate assets essential to the mine’s operations from other assets, is described by activist Dejan Lazar as ‘a shambles’.‘And we can see that this is still continuing, because here in Bor, nobody knows anymore who owns what,’ he adds. He also points out that the state of Serbia, despite having a one-third ownership stake, has no control over the mining complex in Bor and its operations. The Chinese company and its management have all the control over management, and we have almost no say. The Supervisory Board is made up of party appointees from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party,’ Lazar adds.
What does the Jezero Hotel look like today?
The hotel on Lake Bor is dominated by the sound of machinery and tools.
It has been closed for renovation. Chinese workers, whom RSE encountered, would not say when the work would be completed. The complex of massive multi-storey buildings on the lakeshore has more than a hundred rooms, restaurants, halls and a swimming pool.
The hotel management described the months-long works to the local media as ‘comprehensive’. According to announcements, they were due to be completed in March, but the machinery and workers are still there. A fence around the hotel and part of the beach also prevents access. There were no tourists on the promenade around the lake on the day of RSE’s visit.
The lake was built in the mid-1950s as a reservoir for the needs of the mining and smelting basin.
In the meantime, it has developed as a tourist destination, with the RTB hotel as the centre of its tourist offering. Pensioner Dragica Miletić, whom the RSE team spoke to in Bor, recalls her holidays at the lake. ‘How lovely it was. I went up there twice. It was open to everyone, not just RTB workers, for the whole town, the surrounding area, and anyone who wanted to come. I haven’t been since the Chinese took over,’ she adds. Many plots of land along the shoreline, which is about 14 kilometres long, are now owned by Zijin Copper.
And the lake itself is registered in the land registry as their ‘possession’, which means the Chinese company has control over it. Professor Milorad Filipović points out that it is not known how much the renovated hotel will be used for commercial purposes and how much for the needs of Zijin and its business partners – that is, for the accommodation of the numerous delegations that come to visit them.
‘To impress guests, to soften them up in negotiations. This is a business model that is applied all over the world, not just in our country,’ he explains and adds:”If it’s also for the commercial side, when you come for a short break, for a couple of days, you see the beautiful nature, the lovely lake, you don’t get a sense of what it’s like to live in Bor. The Chinese will try to improve their image as a major polluter.”
On the road from Bor towards the lake is Brestovačka Banja, one of the oldest spas in Serbia. The spa complex around the spring of healing water, built in the mid-19th century, has the status of a cultural heritage site, which means it is under special state protection. And in one of the buildings, on a clearing, the former RTB set up a holiday resort for its workers – the ‘RTB Club’.
It was one of the most famous hospitality establishments in the area, says Cama Ciric from Brestovačka Banja. ‘All the delegations that came (to Bor and RTB) stayed there,’ she recalls. The resort, with its few dozen rooms and a large function room, is now run by the Chinese strategic partner.
Its name has also been changed.
Above the ‘Zijin Club’, the flags of Serbia, the miners, and the company fly. ‘The Chinese run it as they please, they dictate, it’s their property,’ explains Cama Cirić. She has not been to the ‘Zijin Club’ since the new owners arrived.
‘They’re investing in it, they really are, and maintaining it, but it’s practically theirs. We gave it to them,’ she observes. On the other hand, his neighbour, Bogoljub Nikolić, says he has been to the ‘Zijin Club’ several times – for celebrations, as the function room is hired out.
‘It’s perfect, excellent,’ he says. He also points out that since Zijin arrived in Bor, the standard of living has improved and the town’s budget is larger.
Donations from the mining company to Bor and the surrounding area
Bor, with more than 109 million euros in its city budget, is among the municipalities with the highest per capita budget in Serbia. Since Zijin’s arrival, the increased exploitation of ores has contributed to the larger city budget. By law, ores, as a natural resource, are the property of the state, and companies that exploit them must pay a fee, known as ‘mineral rent’.
The basis for the mining royalty is the revenue the company has generated from the minerals it has extracted or sold. Serbia is among the countries with the lowest mining royalty rates in Europe. How the money from the paid mining rent is distributed is also prescribed by law – 60 per cent goes to the Serbian budget, and 40 per cent to the municipality where the exploitation takes place. Municipalities are obliged to spend the money from the mining rent on improving the living conditions of the local community, and particularly on building infrastructure.
In its 2025 financial report, Zijin Mining stated that it ‘continuously contributes to the Serbian budget through taxes, mining royalties and other fees, as well as through direct and indirect investments in the economy’.
According to financial reports analysed by RSE, over the past two years, Zijin has also made dozens of donations to various associations, state institutions and sports clubs.
‘These are minimal sums, used to purchase social peace, and behind that lies an enormous enrichment of Zijin as a multinational company, while we get the crumbs from all of it,’ believes Dejan Lazar, an activist and mining engineer from Bor.
Jasna Tomić from Krivelj opposes such donations, pointing out that they should be funded from the public budget. ‘Because, whether we like it or not, your attitude changes when you receive money from a company in that way,’ she adds.
In Bor, where the air is classified as excessively polluted due to high concentrations of heavy metals, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, investment is viewed with mixed feelings.
‘How can I not see the investments? They’re investing in the mine and other facilities. The infrastructure is moving forward,’ stresses Vanucić Iserija from Bor. Vladica, a former worker at the mining complex, believes that since Zijin arrived, things have been ‘much cleaner and smarter’ than when the state was running it.
‘The standard of living is higher, people have money. Investment is happening,’ she observes. On the other hand, Dragica Miletić believes the new owners are ‘pretending to invest’ in Bor.
Ljuba says she has ‘been fighting pollution in the town for years’, but that ‘it always stays the same’. ‘They might donate something, but look at what a state our city is in,’ he points out, gesturing towards the dilapidated buildings in the centre of Bor. Zijin’s assets in Belgrade
Zijin Copper also ‘inherited’ three commercial premises in the centre of Belgrade from the former RTB. One is in the pedestrian zone of the main Knez Mihailova Street.
And from 2025, another firm, Zijin Mining, will also own a four-star hotel in Belgrade, with 170 rooms and a spa centre. The hotel is in the Novi Beograd district, near the Chinese Cultural Centre and the former Chinese Embassy, which was destroyed in the 1999 NATO bombing. The former Falkensteiner Hotel is now named ‘Zijin’.
“In large systems, such as the one in Bor, there is a huge flow of people from abroad who come there. It’s logical for someone to say – why would I pay for expensive hotels in Belgrade when I can use my own hotel and organise accommodation at minimal cost? That’s not unusual in the business world,” points out Professor Milorad Filipović.
As Zijin’s activities and profits grow, so does the cooperation between Serbia and China.
And the ‘steel friendship’, as described by leaders Aleksandar Vučić and Xi Jinping. Beijing and Belgrade are connected by the ‘Belt and Road’, Xi Jinping’s initiative aimed at a breakthrough towards the West. And the export of copper ore from eastern Serbia to China has propelled Zijin Mining and Zijin Copper into the top two spots on the list of Serbia’s largest exporters.
Official financial reports record Zijin Mining’s earnings at 1.13 billion euros at the end of 2025. Zijin Copper had a profit of over 250 million euros at the end of 2024. The 2025 report is not yet available.
(Radio Free Europe, 20.04.2026)
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/srbija-bor-rudnik-zijin-hotel-zagadjenje/33735621.html