The Vareš polymetallic underground silver mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina is set to launch full-scale operations in a few weeks, extracting strategic metals such as silver, gold, lead, zinc, copper, and antimony from host rocks. These metals are crucial for the European Union’s efforts to reduce dependency on Chinese or Russian raw materials.
Vareš town has a centuries-old mining history, with the Romans searching for ore in the mountains surrounding the town. The new ore mine has doubled the municipality’s budget, providing money for urgently needed infrastructure like bridges, waste management, thermal insulation, and building restoration. The recent arrival of new families and returnees is a positive development for the town, as it now offers jobs, work, and order.
Ecological activists from a nearby town have filed a complaint with the Council of Europe’s Bern Convention office, claiming the project threatens local biodiversity and water pollution. The mine is currently the biggest mining project in Bosnia and Herzegovina, representing 25% of the country’s foreign direct investment.
800,000 tonnes of minerals will be extracted from underground each year, representing 25% of the country’s foreign direct investment. The mine is a €200 million investment and is set to contribute more than 2% to the Bosnian GDP once it is up and running. The strategic metals from Vareš are needed for Europe’s energy transition, including solar cells, electric vehicles, charging stations, and wind turbines. The metal concentrates will be transported from Vareš to an export harbour in Croatia and then towards European metal smelters in Germany, Scandinavia, and other European countries.
Protests are brewing in the neighboring city of Kakanj, where English teacher Hajrija Čobo accuses the mining company of playing dirty tricks with environmental studies and having mandated a UK-based institute allegedly not licensed to work in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She filed a complaint at the Council of Europe, specifically the Secretariat of the Bern Convention, which oversees the protection of biodiversity. The office of the legally binding Bern Convention has asked the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina to halt mining activities until the matter is cleared up. The government is also asked to file an official report to the Bern Convention to clarify if the mine is endangering biodiversity.
Sustainability manager Vildana Mahmutović of Adriatic Metals rejects all allegations and claims that there is a water barrier in-between to prevent the impact on the water supply on the opposite side of the hill. She believes that the presence of heavy metals in the water is actually the nature of Vareš itself. After Rio Tinto was forced to pull the plug on a lithium mine project in Serbia amid protests, Adriatic Metals is investing massively in communication, transparency, close cooperation with local stakeholders, and strict pollution controls, including expensive, up-to-date environmental protection schemes.