The Vareš silver mine: A brighter future for Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Strategic metals are key for the European Union as it looks to reduce its dependence on Chinese or Russian raw materials. However, a flagship mining project in Bosnia and Herzegovina is stirring anger among some residents.
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00:34 Let's go.
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00:43 The minerals here, it's good for the country.
01:02 It's good for the government here.
01:03 It's good for the community in whole, I believe.
01:06 And there will be benefits flow down through the community,
01:08 I'm sure.
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01:33 This is the whole stroke of mineralization
01:35 from Rupice deposit in Varys.
01:37 It contains the sulfites, which includes silver, gold, copper,
01:42 zinc, lead, and antimony, with a very, very high grades
01:47 of each element.
01:48 Nice to meet you.
01:48 [SPEAKING GERMAN]
02:06 We see the recent legislation passed
02:08 by the EU around sourcing their critical raw materials
02:12 internally recognizes the need for Europe
02:15 to be independent in resourcing its own future.
02:20 Bosnia-Herzegovina has a huge role to play within that.
02:23 The concentrate we're producing, which
02:25 is shipped throughout Europe, contains
02:27 all metals which are really important in a green and clean
02:31 transition.
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03:18 The second study is practically illegal in this country.
03:22 It is not approved by any authority in this country.
03:27 [SPEAKING GERMAN]
03:28 These construction works in the riverbed,
03:46 which is protection zone number two,
03:49 where such construction works are strictly forbidden,
03:54 they still do it.
03:55 Anything they pollute comes to my pipes.
03:59 And I'm supposed to drink it?
04:01 My government is endangering lives of 40,000 people
04:10 at least in my town for the sake of profit
04:15 for a British company and a couple of hundred people
04:18 to be employed.
04:20 So you know how do we call it?
04:23 It's neocolonialism.
04:24 [SPEAKING GERMAN]
04:26 I'm measuring particles in the water.
04:40 And what we've got here is 210, 213.
04:46 It was like 25 in this stream before the mining.
04:51 [SPEAKING GERMAN]
04:52 But this is a good result.
05:05 I'm very happy with the result today.
05:08 Only chromium is showing a little bit of color.
05:12 But in the past, there were chromium showing up,
05:17 bromine, chlorine.
05:21 It's not clean, not for drinking, not anymore.
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05:29 It's a very far distance from our underground mining
05:44 activities.
05:45 All studies are pretty sure that there
05:47 is a water barrier in between, that our underground waters
05:50 will not affect this water supply
05:54 on the opposite side of the hill.
05:56 Heavy metals are present, but below limit values.
06:00 And what's important and key to say here,
06:02 we are tracking it for three years
06:04 before we started our activities.
06:06 So presence of the heavy metals in this water
06:09 is actually nature of the viruses itself.
06:12 [SPEAKING GERMAN]
06:24 This is the first processing plant,
06:26 flotation in history of the country which
06:28 is going to have recirculation of the water, which
06:30 we are very proud of.
06:31 We understand, even if we are not in European Union,
06:34 we want a European mine, follow all the European legislation
06:37 or international conventions.
06:39 And we want to say the story.
06:41 It's possible to have a green mine.
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08:13 I speak with my parents, and we decide together
08:30 that was best choice for me and for my future.
08:33 I think that the opening of this mine
08:36 will be good for not only us, but for the community itself
08:41 and this town and for the country as well.
08:44 [SPEAKING GERMAN]
08:46 It's crazy and unbelievable.
09:00 I couldn't imagine that I would work here, but it happened.
09:05 It happened.
09:05 I couldn't believe.
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