We found heavy machinery at Malka Golaja: the works began in April, with no word to residents

On 31 May 2026 we went out to Malka Golaja. A line of large dump trucks stood on the site, a road had been freshly cut through the terrain, and signs reading "no entry for unauthorised persons" were already up at the approach.

What the board says

The legally required site board was up as well. It shows that the job is the construction of temporary access roads to the site for carrying out exploration works, that the investor is Serbia Zijin Mining d.o.o., and that the works are being carried out in Zvezdan near Zaječar across 29 cadastral parcels. The value of the investment is 11,346,293.97 dinars.

The board also carries the reference numbers and dates: the works registration certificate ROP-ZAJ-5210-WA-3/2026 of 15 April 2026, the execution decision ROP-ZAJ-5210-TCPIH-2/2026, the start of works on 20 April 2026 and a completion deadline of 20 April 2027. The designer is "Hidromontaža" of Belgrade, the contractor "Jinshan Construction" d.o.o., and the supervision is by "CPM consulting" d.o.o. of Belgrade.

The notice that never came

The works were not secret in the legal sense: they went through the unified e-permit procedure, they have ROP reference numbers and the required site board. But that board stands on the site itself, behind a sign forbidding access. Residents of Zvezdan and Nikoličevo received no notice at all that the works were starting, neither from the investor nor from the city. They first learned of it when the trucks drove past their houses.

What we are asking for

We ask the City of Zaječar to publish decision ROP-ZAJ-5210-TCPIH-2/2026 and works registration ROP-ZAJ-5210-WA-3/2026, with the list of parcels and the design, and to say whether and when it informed the local communities of Zvezdan and Nikoličevo that the works were beginning. And we ask one concrete question: does "temporary access roads" include the area that inspectors found two months later as destroyed forest?