Ministry of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning has determined a long-term objective – the increase in the share of the Serbian mining industry in gross income from two percent to more than five percent by 2020. According to the “Mineral Resources Management Strategy of the Republic of Serbia by 2030”, this development of the mining industry based on mineral resources enables the development of other industries as well.
Strategic planning of both mineral resources management and the development of the mining sector of the Republic of Serbia enables for the future of this sector to be planned and represents the process of determining the key parameters and agreeing upon the most important objectives. By creating a Strategy, the flow of events is controlled, and the removal of consequences of business activities of the mining sector is avoided due to its absence. Thus, this Strategy may be socially, environmentally and sociologically marked as a necessary activity directed towards realistically achieved goals related to planning, organization, management and protection of areas and mineral resources of the Republic of Serbia.
The most important thing for the success of this project is the dynamics of the implementation of specific strategic directions and programs, and due to the current position of the mining and mineral resources sector, it is especially important to immediately commence the implementation of all three strategic directions. The first strategic direction is the development of strategic documents, the second one is the adoption of new, modern legislation (supporting by-laws along with the new law) and the third one is the development and strengthening of the institutional framework.
Knowing the geological potentials of the Republic of Serbia and bearing in mind the needs of improving the work of the mining industry, as well as unstable situation on the world market of mineral resources and capital, the implementation of the realistic development option is fairly certain. Within this option, necessary development of energy mineral resources sector is designed with a view to maintaining energy stability and independence of the country as well as the necessary development of the sector of metallic and non-metallic industrial and other resources in the domain of already existing projects of foreign companies, as well as the planned development of infrastructure.
With the implementation of the indicated projects, not only is the increase in the scope of all kinds of mineral resources enabled, but also the start of mineral resources use which have not yet been exploited. The most important thing is to achieve a long-term strategic objective of the mining sector by 2020, and that is the share in the country’s gross domestic product of more than five percent. It is expected that the income of the mining industry in 2020 amounts to three billion euros, with the share of energy mineral resources in total income being 67.9 percent, metallic mineral resources being 22.1 percent, non-metallic industrial mineral resources being 7.6 percent and non-metallic mineral resources 2.3 percent. According to the estimate of growth of 5.8 percent, GDP will be 55 billion euros in 2020, while the share of the mining industry in GDP will amount to 5.4 percent.
The large number of defined projects for significant mineral resources in the development of the Republic of Serbia is confirmed by this concept. Their implementation will enable planned and safe investments of over 3.5 billion euros over the next ten years for the development of existing and new mines and access infrastructure. The implementation of the process of mining enterprises restructuring, as well as the opening of eleven thousand new job positions will be enabled.
