[7] The explorations were performed by the Serbian industrialist Đorđe Vajfert, who later provided investments of capital from France and set up a company called the "French Society of the Bor Mines, the Concession St. George".

However, due to Cuprom's failure to meet a deadline regarding the financing, the Government of Serbia had cut the deal and the complex was put up for privatization once again.

The Government of Serbia later voted to scrap the contract and offer Oleg Deripaska's Strikeforce Mining and Resources (SMR) as the second ranked bidder a chance to purchase RTB Bor.

[15] In 2017, Greek Mytilineos Holdings won a multi-year trial against RTB Bor before the Geneva Arbitration Tribunal, seeking $40 million for failure to fulfill the contract and subsequent financial losses.

[18] Three companies – Zijin Mining from China, Diamond Fields International from Canada and U Gold from Russia – placed bids in a tender for a strategic partner.

[21] For 2018 calendar year, Zijin Bor Copper had net income of around 760 million euros, with most of it coming from debts conversion into shares.

[citation needed] The overview of total resources: Several protests has been held in Bor in eastern Serbia over excessive air pollution that has been intensified since Zijin took over copper miner Rudarsko-Topioničarski Basen (RTB) in late 2018.

Since January 2019, Bor has been struggling with excessive air pollution, with sulfur dioxide (SO2) levels topping 2,000 micrograms per cubic meter, up from the maximum allowed 350.

Protesters demanded that the city government urgently adopt a plan so that the line ministry and state inspectorates can react to the alarming pollution levels in Bor.

However, control a few months later, in August, showed another omission – Zijin did not have a system for wet dust removal during the transportation of tailings on the Bor mine, which also threatened human health and the environment.