We had proactive relation with local communities of interest in Serbia. Misinformation is coming from some grey areas, and Government has to resolve it. First, we are going to do confirmation drilling in all the areas, based on historical data. Plans are to build plant to produce metallic nickel and cobalt. Mining, together with energy and agriculture are major driving potential for Serbia.
Mr.Vukcevic is the speaker on upcoming conference on” 2nd International Conference on Mineral Resources in the Republic of Serbia, “A Driving Force of Economic Development” organized by Tsomokos. Serbia Energy Magazine had a pleasure of interviewing Mr.Vukcevic before the conference which will take place on 5th November in Belgrade.
Serbia-Energy.com: Srbija Nickel company raised the attention of Serbian public on its nickel exploration project in Serbia, can you give us some clarifications on company interest and what is exactly agreed with Serbian Minister of Mining?
Our interest is business. Nickel is one of most interesting metals today. We see big advantages of Serbia – very good infrastructure and potentially good, well qualified workforce. We as a company strictly follow legal documents, and our relation with Serbian Ministry of Mining is in line with that. Our impression is that new Minister is highly qualified person, obviously with high integrity.
Serbia-Energy.com: Practice in mining and RES energy projects showed that local communities have to involved and informed. Many investors faced different challenges in the region of Balkans specially because of this slow communication strategies of the investors. We have a feeling that Serbian public is mis-informed and that the local communities are not actually fully informed on company activities and more important about the benefits for local communities?
We had proactive relation with local communities of interest in Serbia. We need close cooperation with Government and its support. Similar projects would be of the great interest to any country. Misinformation is coming from some grey areas, and Government has to resolve it. Government has to resolve issue with some of the papers in Serbia, too. Freedom of information is not freedom to misinform society. Many investors in Serbia are experiencing it.
Serbia-energy.com: Can you tell us more about the level of cooperation you have with Serbian ministry of mining, are you satisfied as an investor?
With Serbian Ministry of mining we have very correct relation. We are expecting that the other parts of Government should also take their role.
Serbia-Energy.com: Can you tell us more about the project timeline, what are the milestones and expectations you have from assessment project you have at the moment?
First, we are going to do confirmation drilling in all the areas, based on historical data. Unfortunately, all the cores were lost. At this stage we will conduct pilot plant testing, too.
Second stage is, if enough ore is there, and ore is of a suitable composition, we will do BFS, through one of leading world engineering companies. Part of that is environmental study.
Finally, if outcome of the second stage is positive, we are going to build plant to produce metallic nickel and cobalt.
Our risk is high, however all our previous studies are encouraging us.
Serbia-Energy.com: Mining exploration and mining investment projects have significant perspective for Serbia economic development, in your opinion what are the major obstacles for FDI?
Mining, together with energy and agriculture are major driving potential for Serbia. In our understanding, major obstacle is too many informal power points (who are manipulating without consequences), and related to that, some of the newspapers are irresponsible, and that is obviously related to first obstacle.
Source Serbia Energy Magazine
