Notable case, Bor, Borski okrug, Serbia

Bor (copper mines and smelter)

Бор

A copper district worked since 1904, with mines and smelter next to the town. More than a century of smelter fumes and flotation tailings has contaminated the soils with copper and arsenic.

Status: Not addressed
Area: 2,000 ha on land¹
Activity: since 1904
Media: soil, air, surface water, living organisms
Kind of site: mining, smelter

Area. More than 2,000 ha of fertile soil damaged by flotation tailings (Serbian literature, read from a search extract).

Contaminants

Metals

Metalloids

Arsenic

Status

Not addressed

The mines and smelter are in full operation: since December 2018, 63% has belonged to China's Zijin Mining, which produced 123,286 tonnes of copper in 2025. After the change of ownership sulphur dioxide in the town reached 2,000 µg/m³, against a permitted maximum of 350 (Wikipedia).

Story

The ore was discovered in 1902 and from 1 June 1904 it was worked by the "French Society of the Bor Mines". The sulphurous fumes damaged crops and drew protests from farmers. The complex was nationalised in 1951. Two attempts at privatisation, in 2007 and 2008, fell through; in 2018 Zijin bought 63% for 1.26 billion US dollars.

A 2012 study of soils around the old flotation tailings pond found on average 1,586 mg/kg of copper, 29,463 mg/kg of iron and 172 mg/kg of arsenic; the wild plants analysed held lead and arsenic at critical or phytotoxic levels and copper and iron at higher levels still.

In August 2019 an inspection found that the system for wet dust suppression during tailings transport was missing.

Timeline

1902The deposit is discovered.
1904Mining begins.
1951Nationalisation.
2018Zijin Mining acquires 63%.

From the literature

Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.