Economics
Copper King Turns Money Pit as Serbs Wind Down State Economy
- Premier Vucic plans to overhaul economy after April 24 ballot
- Program to sell budget-draining state companies threatens jobs
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Miners at Serbia’s state-owned RTB Bor copper pit are worried. Their equipment is crumbling, the workforce has been diminished and it costs them more to produce the metal than they can sell it for.
“Some of our machines are older than our oldest workers,” Vlada Stefanovic, a union leader, said Thursday from his office near the huge canyon’s rose-colored terraces, carved by years of mining the mountains four hours from the capital, Belgrade. “If we had five new trucks, one dredge and a drill, there would be more work for all of us.”