The Montenegrin government terminated the contract with the Brskovo Mine company after a year-long struggle by citizens and despite foreign pressures.

On May 30, the Government of Montenegro terminated the contract with the company “Brskovo Mine”. As the Healthy Mojkovac initiative announced on social networks, the citizens of Mojkovac, supported by the relevant minister Mujović and Prime Minister Spajić, won for the well-being and safety of their families and for the right to a healthy life.

We extend congratulations to the citizens of Mojkovac, as well as to Prime Minister Spajić and Minister Mujović, for their perseverance and courage to resist the pressures, which were present, for their vision that not everything in the country is for sale and processing, regardless of how much money it may bring, and for their openness towards the citizens, listening to and respecting their voices, and ultimately for doing everything according to the law and the will of the citizens, not their own desires or the desires of foreigners, as all previous governments have done,” announced the Healthy Mojkovac initiative on social media.

The Minister of Mining supported the citizens

It has become increasingly clear since the beginning of the year that lead and zinc mining in Mojkovac will probably not be restored. At the end of January, the minister of energy and mining formed a commission that dealt with this issue and proposed the termination of the contract with the Swiss company Tara Resources, which planned the work. In April, he commented in a public that foreign diplomats tried to exert undue pressure on the domestic authorities, and that he would not give in to that pressure because the health of citizens is more important than anything else.

There was a mine in Mojkovac before, but this area between the two national parks suffered enormous pollution. “The planned two tailings pits of the new mine are almost five times larger than the previous one, which was an ecological black spot in Montenegro for decades,” Azra Vuković from the non-governmental organization Green Home told Radio Free Europe in 2023.

The local community ” did not fall for the stories of golden hills and valleys”

“The local community has shown enormous strength and extremely high awareness. They did not fall for the stories “about golden hills and valleys” that were promoted by the company and their supporters, both from the previous and the current government. This is the victory of knowledge over ignorance, truth over deception, good over bad intentions, the common good over the interests of a small number of people!”, say the civic initiative Zdravi Mojkovac.

At the end of March, the Government of Montenegro asked the company to correct the . When the investor did not deliver it, it allowed the government to terminate the contract without major financial consequences

“The company did not submit a corrected Feasibility Study, thereby exposing their own falsehoods about ‘environmental standards and an ecological mine.’ This only confirmed that from the beginning we were right and on the side of the law”, Zdravi Mojkovac stated.

“This victory is just the beginning. The battle for justice and transparency continues, therefore we call on the authorities to investigate all possible corrupt practices of the previous signatories of the contract and its annexes.

Termination of the contract is an example of how the state and political leaders should treat their citizens – with respect, responsibility, transparency”, Zdravi Mojkovac announced .

Source: Mašina