{"id":27159,"date":"2020-02-24T15:35:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T13:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/?p=27159"},"modified":"2020-10-28T17:23:02","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T15:23:02","slug":"chinese-investor-in-court-for-pollution-in-bor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/chinese-investor-in-court-for-pollution-in-bor\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese investor in Court for Pollution in Bor"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the end of a workweek, employees of Zijin, <\/em>formerly RTB Bor, were met with an unpleasant surprise at the doors of the administrative building \u2013 their fellow citizens were whistling and booing them, shouting, \u201cBoo! You\u2019ve betrayed the town!\u201d Backed by the inhabitants or nearby small towns and villages, as well as by political activists, on November 15, 2019 a number of Bor citizens protested months\u2019 worth of pollution coming from the mining complex. With the message, \u201cOur health or your profit,\u201d and with masks on their faces, they asked the Chinese investor to reduce the volume of production and thereby the air pollution that was suffocating them.<\/p>

\u201cSulfur dioxide directly damages the airways,\u201d Dr. Dragica Rado\u0161evi\u0107 <\/strong>told the gathering. Heavy metals, such as arsenic, are even more dangerous as they can lead to malignant tumors, she explained.<\/p>

Katarina Vaskovi\u0107<\/strong>, a participant of the protest rally, complained to the media in attendance that living in Bor was like being in a quarantine.<\/p>

\u201cOur children live in a quarantine, we can take them outside only if we estimate that there isn\u2019t that much smoke. (\u2026) Every other child in the neighborhood has gotten an asthma inhaler,\u201d says Vaskovi\u0107.<\/p>

The demonstrators supported the speakers for two hours straight.<\/p>

However, on the day of the rally Bor was not polluted. The air did not cause scratching in the throat or made the eyes water, as the denizens of Bor usually claim, so there was no need to stay indoors. The citizens explain the clean air by the reduction of Zijin\u2019s <\/em>production of cooper and precious metals \u2013 precisely because of the protest and the TV cameras.<\/p>

The data the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia <\/em>(CINS) obtained confirm that on the day of the rally there was no excessive pollution, nor in the following five days, but then it returned \u2013 on a level above what the Law on Air Protection allows.<\/p>

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FLARES OUTSIDE THE ZIJIN ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING ON NOVEMBER 15; PHOTO CINS<\/figcaption><\/figure>

A week after the protest rally, environmental protection inspector\u00a0Emila To\u0161i\u0107<\/strong>\u00a0toured Zijin<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and found that during those two days, on November 21 and 22, sulfur dioxide levels were as much as up to 4.6 times higher than legally permitted. In some hours, the amount of SO2 in the air was 8.3 times higher than allowed, reads the inspector\u2019s report. SO2 is a pungent-smelling gas that leads to frequent coughing and irritation of the pharynx. It causes respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and harms children, the elderly and people suffering from chronic pulmonary diseases the most.<\/p>

Pollution was measured just a five minutes\u2019 walk away from the gates of the mining complex, at a station in the city park maintained by the Serbian Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).<\/em><\/p>

The smelter and sulfuric acid plant within the Smelter and Copper Refinery branch are among the weakest links of the complex. They are the most frequent sites toured by inspectors checking air pollution. Announced as a \u201cmiracle\u201d that will ensure both clean air and a higher profit, the new smelter was inaugurated in 2014. It melts ore to obtain copper, which is why SO2 is created. To get another product instead of pollution, processing turns SO2 into sulfuric acid. In that way, only slightly polluted air should be coming out of the chimneys. However, in reality that\u2019s not always the case.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>

The inspectorate checked Zijin <\/em>in January 2020, too, and registered the same omissions, shows the documentation CINS had access to.\u00a0<\/p>

A proceeding is under way<\/a>\u00a0before the Commercial Court in Zaje\u010dar <\/em>against Zijin <\/em>and the deputy manager of the Smelter and Copper Refinery branch which caused the problem, Boban Todorovi\u0107, <\/strong>for releasing hazardous substances into the air and for the company\u2019s failure to do anything to reduce pollution. They are accused of an economic offense that carries a fine of between 1.5 million and three million dinars, while the court may also hand down a sentence proportional to the damage done.<\/p>

Nata\u0161a \u0110ereg<\/strong>\u00a0of the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Development <\/em>(CEKOR) NGO believes that such penalties do not help:<\/p>

\u201cOur fines are ridiculous \u2013 of course it pays for all polluters to continue polluting, especially such large facilities, to pay the fine and carry on. A fine is not a measure, stopping production would be [the right] penalty.\u201d<\/p>

Former manager of the Smelter and Copper Refinery branch, Paun Jankovi\u0107<\/strong>, says in an interview with CINS that halting production is not in the interest of the majority owner \u2013 currently Chinese state-owned Zijin International Finance Company Limited<\/em>\u00a0(63%), while the Serbian government <\/em>is the second biggest co-owner with 36.9%. Stopping operation means less revenue, but it can play a part in solving the problem, he explains:<\/p>

\u201cThere are technical solutions \u2013 to urgently eliminate the causes of this bad emission. To stop production, as necessary, for a week, for two weeks, to mechanically repair what needs [to be repaired] and then go back to normal.\u201d<\/p>