Prime Minister Ivica Dačić and a number of ministers from his cabinet on Monday visited the RTB Bor copper mining and smelting complex in eastern Serbia.
Energy and mining are among the priorities of the Serbian government, an area that should get the most investment, Dačić noted.
“The miners are not only digging ore, but are also getting Serbia moving. I am pleased that the RTB Bor basin has achieved a positive result and its momentum should be used for further development. Where mines die out the whole town dies out with it as well,” he stated in Bor.
Economy and Finance Minister Mlađan Dinkić and Minister of Natural Resources, Mining and Spatial Planning Milan Baćević traveled to the town along with the prime minister, to mark National Miners’ Day.
Dačić said that RTB Bor was Serbia’s significant competitive advantage and hence there should be further investment in the basin and in revitalizing other factories dependent on the Bor basin, as that should step up the development of the entire region, strategically very important for the country.
“Bor has a strategic importance for Serbia and that is why the government decided to help Bor get back on its feet after the many unsuccessful privatization attempts,” he said, adding that RTB Bor “not only stood to its feet, but also achieved a positive operating result of USD 40 million last year”.
He noted that a EUR 250 million investment cycle had been launched and that RTB Bor should help other companies recover to keep the population in the region, said Dačić.
Minister Baćević stated during the visit that the aim of the new Serbian government and the company’s management is to export final products and not raw ore, and announced that the government would provide assistance to the development of the basin.
He told reporters that the talks with RTB Bor demonstrated a great ambition in this respect.
RTB Bor is the flywheel of the entire eastern Serbia and our final goal is to set up production of copper-based final products through new technological processes, the export of which would bring greater income that would contribute to general well-being of Serbian citizens, Baćević said.
He underscored that mines within RTB Bor complex need assistance to create conditions for expanding and improving the research process which should demonstrate where the necessary ore for exploitation and processing is located in Serbia.
The Serbian government and competent ministries will provide the necessary assistance to the Bor basin because the complex records revenues greater than are achieved elsewhere, that is, to the amount which could pull the country out from the current crisis most easily and at the fastest pace, the minister stated.
The minister expressed satisfaction that the works on the new smelting plant would be completed soon, and underscored that from now on, the working conditions would be much better, production scope would be larger and revenues achieved would be higher.
Source B92
