In a village near Bor in Serbia, land is sinking due to mining

Near Bor, in the village of Slatina, the locals warn that due to the increasingly frequent underground blasting of the future copper mine “Čukaru Peki” by the Chinese company Zidjin, the land is collapsing, and that there is now a brick building underground. Dimitrije Djoševski, a resident, told the Beta agency that earthquakes are felt every day and that the locals do not sleep peacefully.

“When we went out into the yard, we couldn’t believe our eyes. A large built septic tank used by several households simply collapsed and disappeared underground, and the land sank into several surrounding properties,” Djosevski said.

He added that the pit was built of solid material and concrete pillars 12 years ago and that he has no doubt that it has now collapsed as a result of the blasting. According to him, every day the hole widens more and more, and the locals are afraid for the facilities in which they have lived for several decades. Locals draw attention to the fact that the walls of many houses and weekend houses cracked as a result of the blasting, and in some places a staircase separated from the houses. They also state that all facilities in that settlement have a construction and use permit.

They note that earthquakes have intensified in the last three months and occur two to three times a day. The mining inspection of the Ministry of Mining and Energy is in charge of that problem, and the Beta agency was told that the inspection did not receive any reports from Bor. The locals said today that they would report the problem to the mining inspection, but they reminded that the Minister of Mining Zorana Mihajlović promised during her visit to Bor in early December that she would appoint a mining inspector in Bor due to “big problems, but it still hasn’t happened”.

Source: novimagazin.rs

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