Bor (Serbian Cyrillic: Бор, Romanian: Bor) is a town and municipality located in eastern Serbia, with one of the largest copper mines in Europe and it has been a mining centre since 1904, when a French company began operations there ^[3]. It is the administrative center of the Bor District of Serbia.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Municipality
4 Demographics
5 Politics
6 Economy
7 Trivia
8 Twin cities
9 References
10 See also
11 External links

Geography

Bor is in a region called the Timočka Krajina (the Timok Frontier). It is surrounded by many beautiful places such as Banjsko Polje, the spa-town Brestovačka Banja, the lake Borsko Jezero, and the mountain Stol, and it is very close to the mountain Crni Vrh. Just outside of Bor lies another beautiful village by the name of Brestovac.

History

In 1903 the mine of Bor was opened which was important moment for the development of Bor. Since 1947 Bor officially has a town status - at the time its population was 11,000.

Municipality

Bor municipality includes the town of Bor and the following villages:

Brestovac
Bučje
Gornjane
Donja Bela Reka
Zlot
Krivelj
Luka
Metovnica
Oštrelj
Slatina
Tanda
Topla
Šarbanovac

Demographics

Ethnic groups in the municipality

In the 1991 census, Bor municipality had 59,900 residents, the absolute majority declaring themselves as Serbs.

In the 2002 census, the population of the Bor municipality numbered 55,817 residents, and was composed of:

Serbs = 39,989 (71.64%)
Vlachs = 10,064 (18.03%)
Roma = 1,259 (2.26%)
others.

Settlements by ethnic majority

According to the 2002 census, the settlements in the Bor municipality with Serb ethnic majority are: Bor, Brestovac, Donja Bela Reka, and Oštrelj. The settlements with Vlach ethnic majority are: Bučje, Gornjane, Krivelj, Luka, Metovnica, Tanda, Topla, and Šarbanovac. Ethnically mixed settlements are: Zlot (with relative Serb majority) and Slatina (with relative Vlach majority).

Ethnic groups in the town

In the 2002 census, the population of the Bor town numbered 39,387 residents, and was composed of:

Serbs = 32,785
Vlachs = 2,352
Roma = 1,216
Macedonians = 507
Yugoslavs = 251
Montenegrins = 192
Albanians = 105
others

The number of residents has dropped since air pollution has caused many people to leave the town.

Politics

Seats in the municipality parliament won in the 2004 local elections: [1]

Democratic Party (8)
Democratic Party of Serbia (6)
Serbian Strength Movement (6)
Serbian Radical Party (5)
Socialist Party of Serbia (3)
Serbian Renewal Movement (2)
G17 Plus (2)
Group of the citizens "A hope for Bor" (2)
"I also love Bor" (1)

Economy

Since the mid-1990s and during the time of sanctions on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, production in this mine dropped significantly from the very prosperous 1970s and 1980s. This has been due to both diminishing reserves and the inability to obtain new equipment that would most efficiently gather the remaining ore no longer of high grade. Copper mining is the key basis of Bor's economy and the effects of decreased production can be seen all over the town.

On March 6, 2007, RTB Bor (Bors mining company) was sold to Romanian Cuprom for US$400 Million. Cuprom has pledged to modernise the production facilities in RTB Bor and Majdanpek mines, in order to improve the productivity levels. This is seen as the breakthrough deal that the city of Bor needed to speed up its much needed economic reforms. ^[4] However, due to Cuproms failure to meet a deadline regarding the financing, the Serbian government had cut the deal and the complex was put up fro privatization once again.

On February 7, 2008, the Austrian consortium A-TEC acquired the eastern Serbia based copper mining and smelting complex for USD 466mn with a further USD 237mn to follow in the next two years. The buyer is also obliged not to lay off any of the company's 4,691 employees which is seen as a major breakthrough in the revitalization of the Bor economy.^[5]

Currently, the average monthly wage in the city of Bor is US $633 (RSD 32392, 402EUR , 806NZD ) - As of December 2007 ^[6]

This average monthly wage is set to receive a large increase as soon as the modernizing of RTB Bor begins(Including the flow-on effects, i.e. Further business investment in the city, etc.)

Trivia

The municipality of Bor still (as of November 2006) does not have an official website. The new municipal government from Serbian Radical Party publicly announced its creation in September 2006 at address http://www.opstinabor.com, but they forgot an important thing — to register it. That fact was employed by a skilled opponent, who registered the site first and put an insulting comment to the municipal government at its front page. The site contents were subsequently replaced with more elaborate critics, but the prank was retold by the citizens and even attracted some coverage in Serbian media. ^[7]

Twin cities

References

^ Municipalities of Serbia, 2006. Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia.
^ (2003) Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i Stanova 2002. Knjiga 1: Nacionalna ili etnička pripadnost po naseljima (in Serbian). Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. ISBN 86-84443-00-09.
^ http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-73768/Bor
^ http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/news/article_1273087.php/Romanian_firm_buys_Serbia%60s_copper_plant
^ B92 - News - Business & Economy - Austrian A-TEC buys RTB Bor
^ ZP14e
^ Zoran Stanojević (October 5, 2006). "www.vreme.rs" (Serbian). Vreme 822. Retrieved on 2006-11-17.

External links

Municipalities and cities of Serbia

v • d • e

Central Serbia

City of Belgrade: (Barajevo • Čukarica • Grocka • Lazarevac • Mladenovac • Novi Beograd • Obrenovac • Palilula • Rakovica • Savski Venac • Sopot • Stari Grad • Surčin • Voždovac • Vračar • Zemun • Zvezdara)• City of Čačak • City of Jagodina • City of Kragujevac: (Aerodrom • Pivara • Stanovo • Stari Grad • Stragari)
• City of Kraljevo • City of Kruševac • City of Leskovac • City of Loznica • City of Niš:(Crveni Krst • Medijana • Niška Banja • Palilula • Pantelej) • City of Novi Pazar • City of Požarevac • City of Smederevo • City of Šabac • City of Užice • City of Valjevo • City of Vranje • City of Zaječar

Aleksandrovac • Aleksinac • Aranđelovac • Arilje • Babušnica • Bajina Bašta • Batočina • Bela Palanka • Blace • Bogatić • Bojnik • Boljevac • Bor • Bosilegrad • Brus • Bujanovac • Crna Trava • Čajetina • Ćićevac • Ćuprija • Despotovac • Dimitrovgrad • Doljevac • Gadžin Han • Golubac • Gornji Milanovac • Ivanjica • Kladovo • Knić • Knjaževac • Koceljeva • Kosjerić • Krupanj • Kučevo • Kuršumlija • Lajkovac • Lapovo • Lebane • Lučani • Ljig • Ljubovija • Majdanpek • Mali Zvornik • Malo Crniće • Medveđa • Merošina • Mionica • Negotin • Nova Varoš • Osečina • Paraćin • Petrovac • Pirot • Požega • Preševo • Priboj • Prijepolje • Prokuplje • Rača • Raška • Ražanj • Rekovac • Sjenica • Smederevska Palanka • Sokobanja • Surdulica • Svilajnac • Svrljig • Topola • Trgovište • Trstenik • Tutin • Ub • Varvarin • Velika Plana • Veliko Gradište • Vladičin Han • Vladimirci • Vlasotince • Vrnjačka Banja • Žabari • Žagubica • Žitorađa