Priests Speak Out Against German Investment and Magnesium Mine: Don't Touch Kupres, It's a Land of Milk and Honey

(Patria) - A group of prominent priests from around the world, who are from or have roots in Kupres, have issued a declaration against a major investment planned for the area.

This involves the project of building a magnesium production plant at the Osmanlije location, in the municipality of Kupres, by the investor BH Magnezij&Minerali d.o.o., backed by German investors.

Last year, the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism did not issue an environmental permit because, as stated at the time, the mentioned investment was not in line with the Cantonal Spatial Plan. However, the investor did not give up, and a revised Environmental Impact Study for this project was again made available for public inspection in March of this year, writes BiznisInfo.ba.

The company BH Magnezij & Minerali plans to build and commission a plant that would create as many as 600 new jobs. The complex, according to the plan, would consist of 14 buildings, most of which would be production facilities, while the rest would be offices, laboratories, changing rooms, etc.

The owner of BH Magnezij & Minerali is the company “Magnesium For Europe” from Germany. Dolomite would be used as the raw material for magnesium production.

What the Investor Says

The investor claims that the construction of this complex is very important for the entire European Union.

Given that magnesium production is very rare in Europe, and the demand is increasing, it was expected that this investment could have an impact beyond the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The total area of the plant facilities would be 20,432 square meters.

Magnesium is one of the critical raw materials and strategic products for the European Union. The project in Kupres has been identified as strategic for ERMA (European Raw Material Alliance).

They claim the investment is not harmful to the environment but will contribute to the economic development of the region and new employment.

What the Priests Say

In a document signed by a group of priests from practically all over the world, who originate from this region, the following is stated:

“If anyone is for the betterment of the people of Kupres, it is we priests who are from or originate from Kupres. If all its inhabitants are for progress and development – we are even more so! We are well aware of what the industrial revolution has brought to humanity. The exploitation of ores, minerals, metals, and water in Europe initiated heavy industry, which transformed poor countries into true economic giants.

This industrial fervor, which lasted from the end of the 18th to the second half of the 20th century, affected numerous countries. For example, northern Italy and northern Germany sacrificed their natural beauty for exploitable resources to enrich not only their individual families, cities, or regions but the entire country and nation.

They are wealthy countries today because they dug for ores and exploited their natural wealth back in the 1800s and 1900s, not today, when every environmentally conscious country is closing its mines and filling in its quarries to restore and preserve nature, which is essential for life.

Herein lies the entire inexplicable illogicality and astonishing paradox that while the ecologically aware world is working to preserve nature and its beauty, a desire for heavy and dirty industry, which pollutes and destroys not only this region but the entire Adriatic basin, is emerging on our Plateau.

This beautiful Plateau is a land of milk and honey not only for Kupres and its surroundings but also for Dalmatia. This biblical image is not only theological but also ecological, because where there are no flowering meadows, clear and pure water, and healthy and airy forests, there is no nourishing “milk,” let alone medicinal “honey.”

Let us recall that the ecological issue is a pervasive and church-related topic. Saint Pope John XXIII, in his encyclical Pacem in Terris, published in 1963, speaking about global environmental destruction, appealed to all people to commit to preserving our only nature. Saint Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis, published in 1987, wrote that solidarity and responsibility are capital obligations of humanity in striving for its common good.

Pope Benedict XVI, speaking about the ecological crisis, warns that nature is already full of wounds inflicted by irresponsible man and that the degradation of nature is an inhuman act of both human egoism and imagined “divine” greatness. Finally, Pope Francis, in the encyclical Laudato si, strongly emphasizes the ecological crisis in the world, raising awareness about the care for our common home, which is threatened by hostile human actions, and implores for conversion and dialogue with the environment, as there is no more time for delay.

Let us also mention: Eighty years ago, ecocide was committed in neighboring Rama. The entire region was submerged to initiate hydro-industry. And what did that region gain from it? That disruption of nature only helped its people to emigrate even more in large numbers from their homeland. A similar fate befell Buško Polje in Duvanjsko Polje.

What concrete benefit did our neighbors gain from that industry, other than that this ecological disorder only further encouraged them to leave their homeland forever? We therefore encourage our compatriots and fellow villagers to all be wise and patient. Our ancestors did not have the opportunity to utilize the industrial potential of the beautiful Kupres region effectively, but they preserved its untouched and widely recognized nature for us.

Today, when we are offered new-age technology that supports and promotes a healthy environment, we must not falter in our patience to sacrifice the natural beauties we have preserved until now for the meager interest of a few individuals. Let us not allow our natural wisdom and insight to be darkened by the smoke of illusion about the rebirth of our region, because we are not being offered a healthy, modern, and advanced invention, but dirty, old, and poisonous ingenuity from which the entire advanced world is now distancing itself.

While we reject every attempt to separate from our beautiful nature, let us not falter in our faith that days will come when we will use our resources without wounding our Plazenica, disfiguring our Stožer, and polluting our Polje. With wisdom and patience, may our so unobtrusive and harmless pride, which this beloved magical region has imbued into our lifeblood, never be trampled.

Therefore, we, the undersigned priests from or originating from the Kupres Plateau, firmly stand by our untouched Kupres cradle and oppose any form of destruction and imprudent exploitation not only of minerals but also of other natural resources of the Plateau. We hereby also encourage economic policy, at the municipal, cantonal, federal, and state levels, to protect this God-given beauty from pollution and destruction.

We call upon them to fight for promising investments and the opening of new jobs suitable for this region, in order to stop the outflow of human potential and ensure a dignified and prosperous life for the inhabitants not only of this region but also beyond. We will not give up our "Little Siberia" – Peace over Kupres! – the reaction states.

Signed by Don Josip Batinić, parish priest of the parish of St. Roko in Cer; Don Zdenko Perija, parish priest of the parish of St. Barbara at Rebro Hospital in Zagreb; Dr.sc.don Anto Ledić, parish priest of the parish of the Most Holy Trinity in Novi Travnik; Mr.sc.don Ivica Mršo, parish priest of the parish of St. Peter in Kakanj; Prof.dr.sc.don Dubravko Turalija, professor at KBF in Sarajevo; Don Vinko Rogalo, religion teacher and parish vicar in the parish of Mary Help of Christians in Rojeci; Dr.sc.don Ivan Lovrić, administrator of the parish of the Name of Mary – Assumption of the BVM, Montgomery, New York; Don Ivo Jezidžić, pastoral associate in the parish of the Ascension of the Lord in Novi Travnik; Don Marin Marić, parish priest of the parish of Solakova Kula and administrator of the parish of Obri; Prof.dr.sc.don Ivan Lovrić, professor at KBF in Split; Don Josip Radić, parish priest of the parish of St. Ante in Sesvetska Selima; Don Mario Akrap, parish priest of the parish of Blessed Alojzije Stepinac in Zadar; Don Vladimir Smoljo, postgraduate student in Rome; Don Krešimir Bušić, parish vicar in the parish of St. Martin the Bishop in Dugo Selo; Don Marko Bušić, parish vicar in the parish of Prince of Peace, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada; Mr. Miroslav Lovrić, seminarian, and Mr. Elvir Tabaković, seminarian.