Bor, Serbia

Infobox Serbia municipality
native_name = Бор|official_name=Bor
image_shield = COA Bor (big).jpg
district = Bor
mayor = Srdjan Marjanovic
area_km2 = 856
population_total = 39387 | mpop=55817
postal_code = 19210
latd = 44| latm = 05|longd = 22| longm = 06
code = 30
settlements = 14
plates = BO
website = www.opstinabor.com

Bor (Serbian Cyrillic: Бор, _ro. 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 [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-73768/Bor Bor (Serbia) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia ] ] . It is the administrative center of the Bor District of Serbia.

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.

ettlements 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 2008 local elections: [http://www.opstinabor.org.yu/skupstina.php]
*Democratic Party (11)
*Democratic Party of Serbia (2)
*Serbian Radical Party (13)
*Socialist Party of Serbia - PUPS (3)
*Vlachian Democratic Party of Serbia "Dr. Predrag Balasevic" (3)
*Coalition for Bor "Bosko Nicic" (3)

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. [http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/news/article_1273087.php/Romanian_firm_buys_Serbia%60s_copper_plant] 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. [ [http://www.b92.net/eng/news/business-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=02&dd=08&nav_id=47554 B92 - News - Business & Economy - Austrian A-TEC buys RTB Bor ] ]

Currently, the average monthly wage in the city of Bor is US $627 (RSD 34 825, EUR 452, 944NZD ) - As of August 2008 [ [http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/axd/en/index1.php?SifraVesti=288&Link= Average salaries and wages paid in August 2008] ]

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. [cite web|url=http://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=466996|title="www.vreme.rs"|author=Zoran Stanojević|publisher=Vreme 822|date=2006-10-05|accessdate=2006-11-17|language=Serbian]

Twin cities

*flagicon|Montenegro Bar, Montenegro
*flagicon|France Creuse, France
*flagicon|Ukraine Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine
*flagicon|Zambia Kitwe, Zambia
*flagicon|Bulgaria Vratsa, Bulgaria

References

ee also

*List of places in Serbia

External links

* [http://www.opstinabor.org.yu Offical Web Site of the Municipality]
* [http://www.bor030.net Bor 030 - unofficial Web Site]
* http://www.elmundosefarad.eu/wiki/wiki/index.php?title=Bor