Chinese company Ziđin Koper (Zijin Copper) which operates in Pipe in June, she was convicted for the seventh time for building a mining facility on a tailings dump without the approval of the Ministry of Mining and Energy. The company was then fined a total of two million dinars. With the previous six fines for violating the Law on Mining and Geological Research, imposed since 2021, the total "fine" has reached eight million dinars, writes the New Economy.
Since it is Zidjinov profit during the last year was approximately 164 million euros, the total amount of the mentioned fines does not even reach half a thousandth of the one-year net profit of this mining giant.
One of the reasons for the weak "court balance sheet" is that so far in all six previous cases the company received fines below the legal minimum, which amounts to 1,5 million dinars.
On June 5, the commercial court in Zaječar, based on the application submitted by the Regulatory Institute for Renewable Energy and the Environment (RERI) and the Association of Young Researchers Bor, issued a first-instance verdict that Ziđin must pay a fine of two million dinars for the construction of the mining facility on the overhang of the "RTH" flotation tailings pond.
Of that amount, 1,8 million dinars was determined for the offense related to "procedures without previously obtained mining approval", while an additional 200.000 dinars was determined for construction without consent to the environmental impact assessment.
RERI claims that most of the depression (subsidence) that serves to accommodate the flood wave in the event of a dam burst is now filled with mining waste, deposited without a proper environmental impact assessment study and accompanying permits.
In the event that the deposited tailings are spilled, it would reach the Borska river and threaten the village of Slatina, which is located downstream, this non-governmental organization added.
Ziđin builds without permits
After the verdict, RERI announced that Ziđin builds mining and construction facilities "as a rule without permits", and that in the court proceedings initiated against them, he defends himself by saying "that the works were urgent because without them there would be danger to people and an ecological disaster". .
As stated by the organization, Ziđin regularly points out in court proceedings that the process of obtaining permits before state authorities takes too long.
The New Economy tried to get a comment from Ziđin, but was unable to do so by the time the text was published.
The legal representative of the RERI organization, Ljubica Vukčević, said in an interview for New Economy that the sentence imposed in June was not enough, because it should be taken into account that the company had already been convicted six times for the same economic offense.
"The threatened penalty for this economic offense is from 1,5 million to three million dinars." However, in this case, the court should have taken into account the fact that the company had already been convicted six times, so the (penalty) in this case could have been in a larger amount," said Vukčević.
As she added, in previous cases, the court imposed a penalty below the legal minimum, from 350.000 to 1,5 million dinars - therefore, the institute of mitigation of the penalty was applied.
"The judge in this situation has the possibility to impose a fine not of three million dinars, but of six million dinars, i.e. double the amount, because this is a returnee, that is, a legal offense that Ziđin has committed several times," said the lawyer.
She noted that the competent prosecutor's offices do not consider and do not take into account the danger that illegal activities of companies cause to people's lives and health, as well as to the environment.
The consequences for the citizens are increasing
As "Vreme" previously wrote when it visited the inhabitants of Krivelje near Bor, the damage to the houses was visible. Debica Kostandinović, a resident of the village, led us to her house, whose walls and floor were cracked due to daily blasting. Her house is no exception. Several times a day, residents of Krivelje experience a weaker earthquake. The locals are already used to it, but their houses are not.
"Last year, I had to change the roof tiles on the house because they were shaking from the daily shakes. My house started to leak," explains Working Group member Jasna Tomić, adding that she paid for the roof repair herself.
At that time, another of the demands of the locals was the payment of compensation for the damage caused to the agricultural land caused by the flood in June last year. Then the Kriveljska River, which flows through the center of the village, brought ore material from the tailings and flooded the surrounding gardens. Namely, the land was then under water, it was poisoned and the locals can no longer grow food on it.
"About four hectares of my property by the river was then flooded. Everything is full of ore material that was brought from the Novo Cerovo mine. We took the vegetables and the soil for analysis, and there they told us that even if a flower had grown on that soil, we should not put it in a vase. Two families were fed from that land, and we are no longer allowed to cultivate it, but have to buy food. We are not even allowed to engage in animal husbandry because cows and sheep are not allowed to graze on that grass", points out Jasmina Radivojević.
Regarding the Ziđin company, this is not the first fine they have had to pay, and there have also been acquittals. People's health and the state of the environment are being questioned while Ziđin continues to operate without permits.
Source: New Economy
