Zaječar · Timočka krajina · 2026
A mine less than 10 kilometers from downtown Zaječar.
The state is launching a joint spatial plan for the mining and metallurgical megacomplex Čukaru Peki and the new Malka Golaja copper and gold deposit. What has been happening for years to the air, soil and water around Bor is now knocking on Zaječar's door.
Source: Spatial Planning and Urbanism Agency of Serbia · early public review of the draft spatial plan · July 2026.
↑ Bor · smelter
Two mines are merging into one megacomplex.
The earlier decision covered only the lower zone of Čukaru Peki. The new decision erases that boundary and pulls the entire complex into a single expansion plan: the still-unopened Malka Golaja deposit, a brand-new smelter (up to 850,000 t of copper a year) and a 1,900 ha tailings dam.
Čukaru Peki
An already active copper and gold mine. In October 2023 a request was filed in the environmental impact assessment procedure for exploiting the lower zone, estimated to hold 16 million tonnes of copper and 333 tonnes of gold. According to Zijin's 2025 annual report, the upper zone has 15 years of mining left, while the lower zone is planned for as many as 66 years.
Malka Golaja
A new copper and gold deposit whose discovery was announced in March 2025, just 7 km southeast of Čukaru Peki, on Zaječar's territory (cadastral municipality Zvezdan), between Metovnica and Nikoličevo. The plan envisages a pyrite-concentrate dump (material that generates acid mine drainage) in the Veliki Timok basin. How long the mining would last is still unknown.
Who is behind the project
Funding for the strategic assessment is provided by Serbia Zijin Mining, a foreign company that also takes all the profit.
The plan covers the cadastral municipalities:
The pollution frontier is moving south.
Malka Golaja is just 7 km southeast of Čukaru Peki, which means mining is closing in to less than 10 kmfrom the first houses of Zaječar.
This map is illustrative. See the full map here.
Pollution does not respect municipal boundaries. Whatever leaves the tailings, the flotation plant and the smelter is carried by wind and water.
This is not guesswork. It has been measured.
All data below comes from the official Request for the strategic assessment, the very document that launches the expansion. The figures are from 2023 and 2024, from measuring stations around Bor and Čukaru Peki.
Air
Source: Request, pp. 29–32times arsenic exceeded the limit and tolerance values during 2024.
Soil
Source: Request, pp. 21–22of samples had copper and vanadium above maximum allowed concentrations.
Surface waters
Source: Request, pp. 23–24parameters failed Class II water quality standards (2024).
Groundwater
Source: Request, pp. 25–26heavy metals above drinking-water limits: copper, arsenic, nickel, cadmium, plus organic matter.
MAC = maximum allowed concentration. Values above remediation thresholds trigger a legal obligation to clean up the soil under Serbian regulations. This is the state of things before the planned capacity expansion.
Zaječar is not a mining town. It is a town of water, land and factories.
Springs of healing waters
Around Nikoličevo, springs of healing groundwater are already disappearing. To the mine they are a nuisance; to us, medicine and the foundation of spa tourism.
Fertile fields and livestock
Zaječar is a town of farming and livestock, not a mine. Heavy metals in the soil are irreversible.
The air our children breathe
The smelter processes highly toxic concentrate. Arsenic and cadmium do not stop at the municipal boundary.
Factories, not tailings
A dynamic small economy and mid-sized factories: that is the history of Timočka krajina, not a mining colony.
“To a mining company, groundwater is a nuisance. To us it is medicine, and a precondition for life.”
Behind every number is an organ that fails.
The evidence shows which toxins are crossing the limits. Here is what exactly they do to the human body, and who is most at risk. Every claim comes from the World Health Organization (WHO), IARC and ATSDR.
Arsenic
Air · 61× above the limit (2024)IARC Group 1 · proven carcinogenLong-term inhalation and ingestion of arsenic causes cancer of the lungs, bladder and skin, and is also linked to kidney and liver cancer. Before cancer, the skin develops thickening on the palms and soles and changes in pigmentation. Chronic exposure raises the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
MOST AT RISKIt hits children and unborn babies hardest: exposure in pregnancy and early childhood disrupts brain development, memory and intelligence.
Cadmium
Air · 44× above the target value (2024)IARC Group 1 · proven carcinogenCadmium settles in the kidneys and stays for decades: over the years it damages the kidneys and breaks down bone, leading to osteoporosis and fractures. Inhalation causes lung cancer, and it is also linked to kidney and prostate cancer.
MOST AT RISKMost at risk are the elderly and post-menopausal women (brittle bones), as well as smokers, whose exposure adds up.
Lead
Air · 1.068 µg/m³, above the annual limit (2024)IARC Group 2A · probable carcinogenThere is no safe dose of lead. In children it permanently damages brain development, lowering intelligence (IQ), shortening attention span and changing behaviour, and that damage is irreversible. In adults it raises blood pressure and damages the heart and kidneys.
MOST AT RISKChildren absorb 4–5 times more lead than adults. In pregnancy, lead passes from the mother's bones to the baby, causing miscarriage, premature birth and low birth weight.
PM10 particles
Air · 26× above the limit (2024)IARC Group 1 · air pollution causes lung cancerFine particles penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. In the short term they worsen asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and fill hospital wards; in the long term they cause lung cancer, heart attacks and strokes, and shorten life expectancy.
MOST AT RISKThey hit hardest children, the elderly and everyone with heart or lung disease and asthma.
Metals in water and soil
Drinking water · 5 metals above the limit; copper in every soil sampleNickel · IARC Group 1Nickel, mercury, copper, zinc and other metals were measured above permitted levels in groundwater, surface waters and soil. Nickel (a proven carcinogen, Group 1) causes lung and nasal cancer. Mercury accumulates in the body and permanently damages the nervous system and kidneys. Excess copper in drinking water damages the liver and causes digestive problems.
MOST AT RISKPregnant women and small children are most at risk: mercury disrupts fetal brain development, and metals in drinking water attack the kidneys and liver.
What Zaječar fears has already been measured in Bor. A 2020 study by Serbia's Institute of Public Health “Batut” (supported by UN Environment and the WHO) found a significantly higher risk of developing and dying from cancer, for all malignant tumours except skin cancers, in both men and women, including a significantly higher risk of lung cancer. Source ↗
Answers to what is most often heard around Zaječar.
Propaganda springs up around every mine. Here are the most common claims, and what the facts say about them.
WE HEAR“It's all done, agreed, sold. There's nothing we can do, it can't be stopped.”
THE TRUTHFalse. There are legal ways for the City to slow down and stop the project. Ministries, agencies and inspectorates have even stronger mechanisms. It takes just one institution doing its job.
WE HEAR“People are selling the land themselves.”
THE TRUTHThe right to sell land does not give a foreign company the right to drill, blast and store waste full of heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury) on it. That is how nature, fertile soil and health get destroyed.
WE HEAR“Zaječar will come alive, there'll be money, there'll be jobs.”
THE TRUTHAnd how much has Bor “come alive”? Does it look like a city of happy, healthy people? The wages are nothing next to the company's profit and the health that is lost. A strong salary, but a strong cancer too. Blood tests of Zijin's employees confirm it.
WE HEAR“There has always been mining in Timočka Krajina.”
THE TRUTHIn Bor, yes, but in Zaječar, apart from coal, there was no mining. Zaječar was never a mining town; it was a town of factories, small businesses, farming and livestock.
WE HEAR“Serbia lives off its mines.”
THE TRUTHOff this mine lives a foreign company that takes all the profit (Čukaru Peki is 100% foreign-owned). The mining royalty is just 5% of the revenue the company itself reports: of their million euros, we keep 50,000. Croatia charges 10%, Hungary and Romania 12%.
WE HEAR“Zijin is a serious global investor, a reputable company.”
THE TRUTHOn 16 June 2026 U.S. Customs and Border Protection banned imports of Serbia Zijin Copper products into the United States over forced labour; six international (ILO) indicators were identified. The same month, Serbia's forestry inspectorate ordered Zijin to halt works at Malka Golaja over the illegal clearing of 11.49 ha of forest near Zvezdan.
WE HEAR“The air in Bor was never clean anyway.”
THE TRUTHTrue, but there are more heavy metals in the air now than ever. Mining used to be controlled and planned. Zijin is ramping up capacity without control, to extract as much ore as possible in as little time as possible.
WE HEAR“It won't harm us.”
THE TRUTHThe smelter processes highly toxic concentrate from abroad. Pollution does not respect municipal boundaries.
WE HEAR“They won't destroy our nature.”
THE TRUTHThe springs of healing groundwater around Zaječar (Nikoličevo) are already disappearing. To the mine they are a nuisance; to us they are medicine and the foundation of spa tourism. Water is a precondition for life.
WE HEAR“It will be green mining.”
THE TRUTHGreen mining does not exist. Every mine means tailings, flotation, enormous volumes of wastewater, air pollution and irreversible contamination of soil, water and health. Let's not fall for the propaganda.
Latest from the campaign.
After Romania, Bulgaria too: 12 organisations ask Sofia to enter the process over Zijin's complex
Twelve Bulgarian non-governmental organisations wrote to Bulgaria's Minister of Environment and Water on 18 August, a day after 28 Romanian organisations asked for the same. They want the status of a potentially affected party and the documents in Bulgarian.
17 August 2026Chinese gold, Romanian water: 28 NGOs urge Bucharest not to abandon the Danube
Twenty-eight Romanian non-governmental organisations have asked their environment minister to open transboundary public consultations on Zijin's “Čukaru Peki” and “Malka Golaja” complex. The letter invokes the Kyiv Protocol and asks that Romania be granted the status of a potentially affected party.
14 August 2026Zijin has pulled its machinery off Malka Golaja: no equipment and no cabins left on site
We were on site on Friday, 14 August 2026. The works have stopped, and the machinery, cabins, equipment and signs have been removed. Alongside this we publish the exploration decision, which shows the exploration term runs to 2028.
Nothing is final.
The early public review closed on 3 August 2026. Objections from citizens, associations and institutions have been filed, and the procedure continues. The next legal window for objections is the public review of the draft plan.
What comes next in the procedure
- Drafting of the spatial plan and the strategic environmental assessment, which was not even produced in the early-review phase
- Public review of the draft, a new legal window in which objections are filed again
- Adoption of the plan: we will announce every new deadline as soon as it is known
Share the facts
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Demand that institutions do their job
Ministries, agencies and inspectorates have stronger mechanisms than the City. One of them doing its job is enough.
Join Timočka buna
The buna is not rage. It is the organised resistance of the neighbouring villages and town defending their water, land and health.
The official channels of Timočka buna.
These are the only accounts and the only address Timočka buna uses. Anything else speaking in our name is not ours.