Zijin company in Serbia manipulates projects for the production of copper

The Chinese investor Zijin was instructed to make a study on the environmental impact assessment for the entire project, and not partially for individual works within that project.

The Association of Young Researchers Bora and RERI drew the attention of the public and the competent ministry that in this case it is an artificial division of the project into smaller units in order to hide the impact on the environment, according to the Media Center.

“Serbia Zijin Koper”, the majority owner of the former RTB Bor, addressed the Ministry of Environmental Protection on December 10 last year with a request to decide on the need for environmental impact assessment of the preparatory work project: excavation for construction, extension and reconstruction due to increased capacity copper smelters within the investor complex.

The investor pointed out in the request that “the project of preparatory earthworks does not require the preparation of an Environmental Impact Study”, failing to state that all works included in the request are preparatory works for the construction of facilities and plants. Among them are desulphurization plants, sulfuric acid factories and warehouses, the impact of which on the environment needs to be determined in the process of impact assessment.

These organizations remind that the Law on Planning and Construction clearly stipulates that “construction of the facility” means: preliminary works, preparation and control of technical documentation, preparatory works for construction, construction of the facility and professional supervision during the construction of the facility. Thus, earthworks are not a project in themselves, nor do they have any purpose on their own, except as preparatory works for the construction of facilities.

The Society of Young Researchers and RERI pointed out that, due to incomplete and inaccurate data and the division of a single project into several smaller ones, it is necessary to conduct the impact assessment procedure from the very beginning for the entire project of increasing the capacity of the Copper Smelter. If the project were evaluated as a whole, “there would undoubtedly be a conclusion about the obvious negative effects on the environment,” the two organizations believe.

Source: danas.rs

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