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63-599: Serbia Zijin Bor Copper , formerly known as RTB Bor , is a copper mining and smelting complex located in Bor , Serbia . The first geological explorations of copper ore in Bor area were conducted in 1897 and covered the area at the time called "Tilva Roš". The explorations were performed by the Serbian industrialist Đorđe Vajfert , who later provided investments of capital from France and set up

126-553: A Bessemer converter or by other means including smelting reduction processes such as the Corex Process . Smelting has serious effects on the environment , producing wastewater and slag and releasing such toxic metals as copper , silver, iron, cobalt , and selenium into the atmosphere. Smelters also release gaseous sulfur dioxide , contributing to acid rain , which acidifies soil and water. The smelter in Flin Flon, Canada

189-668: A company called the "French Society of the Bor Mines, the Concession St. George". The company, with its headquarters in Paris, started operations on 1 June 1904. The French capital remained in Bor until the end of the World War II . In 1951, the company's assets were nationalized by the Government of SFR Yugoslavia . Since then, the company Bor was in the state ownership. From 1951 until 1988,

252-512: A dust suppression system had been installed, which was put to trial. In November 2019, CINS sought an interview with Zijin on the topic of air pollution, to which the company responded with a press release. It says that by the end of the year, the company will have a total of five SO2-neutralized dust spray machines. Documentation obtained by CINS shows that by that time, two of the machines purchased had been in operation for about two months, but pollution data showed that it had no significant effect on

315-424: A hammer to produce wrought iron . Some of the earliest evidence to date for the bloomery smelting of iron is found at Tell Hammeh , Jordan, radiocarbon-dated to c.  930 BC . From the medieval period, an indirect process began to replace the direct reduction in bloomeries. This used a blast furnace to make pig iron , which then had to undergo a further process to make forgeable bar iron. Processes for

378-434: A key element of his growth strategy. By focusing on EBITDA, he showcased a company's capacity to generate cash flow while effectively utilizing leveraged debt and reinvesting profits to minimize taxes—an approach that defined his investment philosophy. EBITDA regained popularity during the dot-com boom , gaining popularity as a benchmark for assessing the financial health of rapidly expanding, technology companies. EBITDA

441-502: A letter to the Ministry of Environment that the power outage had caused pollution. 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. Zijin was ordered to solve the problem, and the company later told the Ministry that

504-686: A low concentration of sulfur dioxide that was difficult to capture; a new generation of copper smelting technologies has supplanted them. More recent furnaces exploit bath smelting, top-jetting lance smelting, flash smelting , and blast furnaces. Some examples of bath smelters include the Noranda furnace, the Isasmelt furnace, the Teniente reactor, the Vunyukov smelter, and the SKS technology. Top-jetting lance smelters include

567-481: A range of more complex organic compounds known collectively as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Treatment technologies include recycling of wastewater; settling basins , clarifiers and filtration systems for solids removal; oil skimmers and filtration; chemical precipitation and filtration for dissolved metals; carbon adsorption and biological oxidation for organic pollutants; and evaporation. Pollutants generated by other types of smelters varies with

630-432: A regular basis. These adjustments can include bad debt expenses, any legal settlements paid, costs for acquisitions, charitable contributions and salaries of the owner or family members. The resulting metric is called adjusted EBITDA or EBITDA before exceptionals . A negative EBITDA indicates that a business has fundamental problems with profitability. A positive EBITDA, on the other hand, does not necessarily mean that

693-434: A secondary service after the reduction step is complete; they provide a molten cover on the purified metal, preventing contact with oxygen while still hot enough to readily oxidize. This prevents impurities from forming in the metal. The ores of base metals are often sulfides. In recent centuries, reverberatory furnaces have been used to keep the charge being smelted separately from the fuel. Traditionally, they were used for

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756-484: Is a non- GAAP metric that has been introduced following the global COVID-19 pandemic . EBITDAC is a special case of adjusted EBITDA. On 13 May 2020, the Financial Times mentioned that German manufacturing group Schenck Process was the first European company to use the term in their quarterly reporting. The company had added back €5.4m of first-quarter 2020 profits that it said it would have made were it not for

819-519: Is derived from EBITDA by subtracting Depreciation. EBITA is used to include effects of the asset base in the assessment of the profitability of a business. In that, it is a better metric than EBITDA, but has not found widespread adoption. Earnings Before Interest, Depreciation, Amortization and Exploration ( EBIDAX ) is a non- GAAP metric that can be used to evaluate the financial strength or performance of oil, gas or mineral company. Costs for exploration are varied by methods and costs. Removal of

882-537: Is easily produced during the heating process, and as a gas comes into intimate contact with the ore. In the Old World , humans learned to smelt metals in prehistoric times, more than 8000 years ago. The discovery and use of the "useful" metals – copper and bronze at first, then iron a few millennia later – had an enormous impact on human society. The impact was so pervasive that scholars traditionally divide ancient history into Stone Age , Bronze Age , and Iron Age . In

945-408: Is occasionally found in commercially significant quantities. These minerals are primarily carbonates , sulfides , or oxides of the metal, mixed with other components such as silica and alumina . Roasting the carbonate and sulfide minerals in the air converts them to oxides. The oxides, in turn, are smelted into the metal. Carbon monoxide was (and is) the reducing agent of choice for smelting. It

1008-582: Is only marginally harder, and had even less impact by itself. The earliest evidence for iron-making is a small number of iron fragments with the appropriate amounts of carbon admixture found in the Proto-Hittite layers at Kaman-Kalehöyük and dated to 2200–2000 BC. Souckova-Siegolová (2001) shows that iron implements were made in Central Anatolia in very limited quantities around 1800 BC and were in general use by elites, though not by commoners, during

1071-595: Is that it ignores the need for capital expenditures in its assessment. However, capital expenditures are needed to maintain the asset base which in turn allows for generating EBITDA. Warren Buffett famously asked, "Does management think the tooth fairy pays for capital expenditures?". A fix often employed is to assess a business on the metric EBITDA - Capital Expenditures. EBITDA margin refers to EBITDA divided by total revenue (or "total output", "output" differing from "revenue" according to changes in inventory). Earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization ( EBITA )

1134-562: Is unknown. The first such bronzes may have been a lucky accident from tin-contaminated copper ores. However, by 2000 BC, people were mining tin on purpose to produce bronze—which is remarkable as tin is a semi-rare metal, and even a rich cassiterite ore only has 5% tin. The discovery of copper and bronze manufacture had a significant impact on the history of the Old World . Metals were hard enough to make weapons that were heavier, stronger, and more resistant to impact damage than wood, bone, or stone equivalents. For several millennia, bronze

1197-399: Is widely used when assessing the performance of a company. EBITDA is useful to assess the underlying profitability of the operating businesses alone, i.e. how much profit the business generates by providing the services, selling the goods etc. in the given time period. This type of analysis is useful to get a view of the profitability of the operating business alone, as the cost items ignored in

1260-508: The Americas , pre- Inca civilizations of the central Andes in Peru had mastered the smelting of copper and silver at least six centuries before the first Europeans arrived in the 16th century, while never mastering the smelting of metals such as iron for use with weapon craft. Copper was the first metal to be smelted. How the discovery came about is debated. Campfires are about 200 °C short of

1323-549: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , production in the RTB Bor 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, which is no longer of such a high grade. Copper mining as the key basis of Bor 's economy had significant effects on Bor's inhabitants due to decreased production during

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1386-593: The New Hittite Empire (~1400–1200 BC). Archaeologists have found indications of iron working in Ancient Egypt , somewhere between the Third Intermediate Period and 23rd Dynasty (ca. 1100–750 BC). Significantly though, they have found no evidence of iron ore smelting in any (pre-modern) period. In addition, very early instances of carbon steel were in production around 2000 years ago (around

1449-482: The financial crisis of 2007–2008 . A-TEC was not permitted to see returned the $ 150 million it had already paid. 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. However, after a set of negotiations, SMR decided not to increase their first offer and the second tender had officially failed. For more than two decades, RTB Bor has been among

1512-579: The 1990s and 2000s. In March 2007, the Government of Serbia sold RTB Bor to the Romanian Cuprom for a sum of US$ 400 million. Cuprom pledged to modernize the production facilities in RTB Bor and Majdanpek mine, in order to improve the productivity levels. 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. In February 2008, following

1575-464: The EBITDA computation are largely independent from the operating business: The interest payments depend on the financing structure of the company, the tax payments in the relevant jurisdictions as well as the interest payments, the depreciation on the asset base (and depreciation policy chosen), and the amortisation on takeover history with its effect on goodwill among others. EBITDA is widely used to measure

1638-490: The Greek company. Mytilineos has also launched several other lawsuits against RTB Bor over the non-fulfilled contracts signed during the 1990s. In 2017, according to the general director Spaskovski, RTB Bor had a positive net result after years of net losses, with $ 306 million (€255 million) of revenues and $ 73 million (€61 million) of EBITDA . For 2017, around 18 million tonnes of ore was mined, of which 235,000 tonnes of concentrate

1701-536: The Mitsubishi smelting reactor. Flash smelters account for over 50% of the world's copper smelters. There are many more varieties of smelting processes, including the Kivset, Ausmelt, Tamano, EAF, and BF. Of the seven metals known in antiquity , only gold regularly occurs in nature as a native metal . The others – copper , lead , silver , tin , iron , and mercury – occur primarily as minerals, although native copper

1764-418: The ancient world. It is too soft to use for structural elements or weapons, though its high density relative to other metals makes it ideal for sling projectiles. However, since it was easy to cast and shape, workers in the classical world of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome used it extensively to pipe and store water. They also used it as a mortar in stone buildings. Tin was much less common than lead,

1827-461: The base metal ore. For example, aluminum smelters typically generate fluoride , benzo(a)pyrene , antimony and nickel, as well as aluminum. Copper smelters typically discharge cadmium, lead, zinc , arsenic and nickel, in addition to copper. Lead smelters may discharge antimony , asbestos, cadmium, copper and zinc, in addition to lead. Labourers working in the smelting industry have reported respiratory illnesses inhibiting their ability to perform

1890-428: The business generates cash. This is because the cash generation of a business depends on capital expenditures (needed to replace assets that have broken down), taxes, interest and movements in working capital as well as on EBITDA. While being a useful metric, one should not rely on EBITDA alone when assessing the performance of a company. The biggest criticism of using EBITDA as a measure to assess company performance

1953-477: The company has changed its organizational structure, from the "organization of associated labor" to state-owned enterprise "RTB Bor". During 1993, following the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia and the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars , RTB Bor made various investments which further initiated opening of the new mining operations such as new pit mine called "Cerovo". Since the mid-1990s and during the time of sanctions on

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2016-450: The company, in a $ 1.26 billion deal with the Government of Serbia. On 18 December 2018, Zijin Mining formally took over the company under new name "Zijin Bor Copper". Later, it was announced that suffix "Serbia" will be added. 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. RTB Bor Group is composed of

2079-408: The discovery happened several millennia before the invention of writing, there is no written record of how it was made. However, tin and lead can be smelted by placing the ores in a wood fire, leaving the possibility that the discovery may have occurred by accident. Recent scholarship however has called this find into question. Lead is a common metal, but its discovery had relatively little impact in

2142-508: The establishment of trade networks that spanned large areas of Europe and Asia and had a major effect on the distribution of wealth among individuals and nations. The earliest known cast lead beads were thought to be in the Çatalhöyük site in Anatolia ( Turkey ), and dated from about 6500 BC. However, recent research has discovered that this was not lead, but rather cerussite and galena, minerals rich in, but distinct from, lead. Since

2205-591: The exploration portion of the balance sheet allows for a better comparison between the energy companies. Operating income before depreciation and amortization ( OIBDA ) refers to an income calculation made by adding depreciation and amortization to operating income . OIBDA differs from EBITDA because its starting point is operating income, not earnings. It does not, therefore, include non-operating income, which tends not to recur year after year. It includes only income gained from regular operations, ignoring items like FX changes or tax treatments. Historically, OIBDA

2268-513: The final oxygen atoms from the raw metal. The carbon source acts as a chemical reactant to remove oxygen from the ore, yielding the purified metal element as a product. The carbon source is oxidized in two stages. First, carbon (C) combusts with oxygen (O 2 ) in the air to produce carbon monoxide (CO). Second, the carbon monoxide reacts with the ore (e.g. Fe 2 O 3 ) and removes one of its oxygen atoms, releasing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). After successive interactions with carbon monoxide, all of

2331-429: The first step of smelting: forming two liquids, one an oxide slag containing most of the impurities, and the other a sulfide matte containing the valuable metal sulfide and some impurities. Such "reverb" furnaces are today about 40 meters long, 3 meters high, and 10 meters wide. Fuel is burned at one end to melt the dry sulfide concentrates (usually after partial roasting) which are fed through openings in

2394-450: The first-century .) in northwest Tanzania , based on complex preheating principles. These discoveries are significant for the history of metallurgy. Most early processes in Europe and Africa involved smelting iron ore in a bloomery , where the temperature is kept low enough so that the iron does not melt. This produces a spongy mass of iron called a bloom, which then must be consolidated with

2457-979: The following subsidies: The ledges of the Zijin Bor Copper are located in the southwestern part of the Carpathian Mountains and are mostly of porphyry type within the Upper Bor District eruptive area. The currently undeveloped underground site "Borska Reka", located within the Jama mine, represents a very significant potential mineral resource. 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

2520-456: The hit caused by 'missing contribution margin and cost absorption reduced by direct financial state support received majorly in China so far'. Other companies picked up this EBITDAC measure as well, claiming the state-mandated lockdowns and disruptions to the supply chains distort their true profitability, and EBITDAC would show how much these companies believe they would have earned in the absence of

2583-403: 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. As early as April 2019, the inspector had ordered the company to take action against air pollution of the environment, human health and the environment, because it emitted excessive SO2. Zijin then explained in

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2646-492: The metal behind. The reducing agent is commonly a fossil-fuel source of carbon , such as carbon monoxide from incomplete combustion of coke —or, in earlier times, of charcoal . The oxygen in the ore binds to carbon at high temperatures, as the chemical potential energy of the bonds in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is lower than that of the bonds in the ore. Sulfide ores such as those commonly used to obtain copper, zinc or lead, are roasted before smelting in order to convert

2709-411: The metal out of its ore. Most ores are the chemical compound of the metal and other elements, such as oxygen (as an oxide ), sulfur (as a sulfide ), or carbon and oxygen together (as a carbonate ). To extract the metal, workers must make these compounds undergo a chemical reaction . Smelting, therefore, consists of using suitable reducing substances that combine with those oxidizing elements to free

2772-490: The metal. In the case of sulfides and carbonates, a process called " roasting " removes the unwanted carbon or sulfur, leaving an oxide, which can be directly reduced. Roasting is usually carried out in an oxidizing environment. A few practical examples: Reduction is the final, high-temperature step in smelting, in which the oxide becomes the elemental metal. A reducing environment (often provided by carbon monoxide, made by incomplete combustion in an air-starved furnace) pulls

2835-454: The most unprofitable Serbian companies, with the accumulated debt of more than 1 billion euros . However, the Government of Serbia kept investing hundreds of millions euros in new production facilities, and even wrote off company's debts worth 1 billion euros to the government-owned companies such as Elektroprivreda Srbije . Even with high copper prices on global markets, RTB Bor continued with financial losses. For calendar year 2015 net loss

2898-716: The oldest evidence, now appears to be hammered, native copper. Combining copper with tin and/or arsenic in the right proportions produces bronze , an alloy that is significantly harder than copper. The first copper/arsenic bronzes date from 4200 BC from Asia Minor . The Inca bronze alloys were also of this type. Arsenic is often an impurity in copper ores, so the discovery could have been made by accident. Eventually, arsenic-bearing minerals were intentionally added during smelting. Copper–tin bronzes, harder and more durable, were developed around 3500 BC, also in Asia Minor. How smiths learned to produce copper/tin bronzes

2961-464: The ore during smelting to catalyze the desired reactions and to chemically bind to unwanted impurities or reaction products. Calcium carbonate or calcium oxide in the form of lime are often used for this purpose, since they react with sulfur, phosphorus, and silicon impurities to allow them to be readily separated and discarded, in the form of slag. Fluxes may also serve to control the viscosity and neutralize unwanted acids. Flux and slag can provide

3024-431: The oxygen in the ore will be removed, leaving the raw metal element (e.g. Fe). As most ores are impure, it is often necessary to use flux , such as limestone (or dolomite ), to remove the accompanying rock gangue as slag. This calcination reaction emits carbon dioxide. The required temperature varies both in absolute terms and in terms of the melting point of the base metal. Examples: Fluxes are materials added to

3087-863: The physical tasks demanded by their jobs. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has published pollution control regulations for smelters. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization Though often shown on an income statement , it is not considered part of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) by the SEC , and hence the SEC requires that companies registering securities with it (and when filing its periodic reports) reconcile EBITDA to net income . The original concept of EBITDA

3150-448: The reduction of sulfur dioxide. Smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron , copper , silver , tin , lead and zinc . Smelting uses heat and a chemical reducing agent to decompose the ore, driving off other elements as gases or slag and leaving

3213-401: The roof of the furnace. The slag floats over the heavier matte and is removed and discarded or recycled. The sulfide matte is then sent to the converter . The precise details of the process vary from one furnace to another depending on the mineralogy of the ore body. While reverberatory furnaces produced slags containing very little copper, they were relatively energy inefficient and off-gassed

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3276-565: The second stage include fining in a finery forge . In the 13th century during the High Middle Ages the blast furnace was introduced by China who had been using it since as early as 200 b.c during the Qin dynasty . [1] Puddling was also introduced in the Industrial Revolution . Both processes are now obsolete, and wrought iron is now rarely made. Instead, mild steel is produced from

3339-480: The second tender, RTB Bor was sold to the Austrian A-TEC for a sum of $ 466 million plus obligation to invest $ 180.4 million in facilities. After the signing of the contract was made, the first $ 150 million was delivered by A-TEC. However, the problems arose after A-TEC missed its deadline for the second payment at $ 230 million, due to A-TEC's trouble to secure bank guarantees due to the global recession caused by

3402-455: The sulfides to oxides, which are more readily reduced to the metal. Roasting heats the ore in the presence of oxygen from air, oxidizing the ore and liberating the sulfur as sulfur dioxide gas. Smelting most prominently takes place in a blast furnace to produce pig iron , which is converted into steel . Plants for the electrolytic reduction of aluminium are referred to as aluminium smelters . Smelting involves more than just melting

3465-643: The temperature needed, so some propose that the first smelting of copper may have occurred in pottery kilns . (The development of copper smelting in the Andes, which is believed to have occurred independently of the Old World , may have occurred in the same way. ) The earliest current evidence of copper smelting, dating from between 5500 BC and 5000 BC, has been found in Pločnik and Belovode, Serbia. A mace head found in Turkey and dated to 5000 BC, once thought to be

3528-421: The valuation of private and public companies (e.g. saying that a certain company trades at x times EBITDA, meaning that the company value as expressed through its stock price equates to x times its EBITDA). In its attempt to display EBITDA as a measure of the underlying profitability of the operating business, EBITDA is often adjusted for extraordinary expenses, i.e. expenses that the company believes do not occur on

3591-497: Was around 110 million euros and for 2016 it amounted to 42 million euros. 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. During the 1990s, RTB Bor imported the copper concentrate from Mytilineos, processed it, but never sent back 4,000 tonnes of processed copper to

3654-421: Was created to exclude the impact of write-downs resulting from one-time charges, and to improve the optics for analysts comparing to previous period EBITDA. An example is the case of Time Warner , who shifted to divisional OIBDA reporting subsequent to write downs and charges resulting from the company's merger into AOL . Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and coronavirus ( EBITDAC )

3717-504: Was later postponed until June 2018. 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. The Serbian government has chosen the Chinese Zijin Mining Group as its strategic partner for the copper mining and smelting complex, RTB Bor. On 31 August 2018, Chinese mining company Zijin Mining took over 63% of shares of

3780-1034: Was one of the largest point sources of mercury in North America in the 20th century. Even after smelter releases were drastically reduced, landscape re-emission continued to be a major regional source of mercury. Lakes will likely receive mercury contamination from the smelter for decades, from both re-emissions returning as rainwater and leaching of metals from the soil. Air pollutants generated by aluminium smelters include carbonyl sulfide , hydrogen fluoride , polycyclic compounds , lead, nickel , manganese , polychlorinated biphenyls , and mercury . Copper smelter emissions include arsenic, beryllium , cadmium , chromium , lead, manganese, and nickel. Lead smelters typically emit arsenic, antimony , cadmium and various lead compounds. Wastewater pollutants discharged by iron and steel mills includes gasification products such as benzene , naphthalene , anthracene , cyanide , ammonia , phenols and cresols , together with

3843-478: Was pioneered in the 1970s by billionaire investor John Malone . Early in his career, Malone developed EBITDA as a tool to evaluate the cash-generating ability of telecom companies. He advocated for its use over traditional metrics like Earnings per share (EPS) , arguing that EBITDA offered a more accurate reflection of financial performance for high-growth, capital-intensive businesses. Originally, Malone used EBITDA to attract lenders and investors, positioning it as

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3906-515: Was processed and finally, 43,000 tonnes of copper, 5 tonnes of silver and 700 kilograms of gold was obtained. Around 75% of the processed copper is exported, while the rest is being further processed by domestic copper companies " Valjaonica bakra Sevojno " and "Pometon". In 2017, the Government of Serbia was obliged to find a strategic partner or buyer by March 2018, in a memorandum with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The sale

3969-526: Was the material of choice for weapons such as swords , daggers , battle axes , and spear and arrow points, as well as protective gear such as shields , helmets , greaves (metal shin guards), and other body armor . Bronze also supplanted stone, wood, and organic materials in tools and household utensils—such as chisels , saws , adzes , nails , blade shears , knives , sewing needles and pins , jugs , cooking pots and cauldrons , mirrors , and horse harnesses . Tin and copper also contributed to

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