The Pek originates from two major headwaters, Veliki Pek and Mali Pek. The Mali Pek comes down from the northern slopes of the Liškovac mountain, flows to the southwest through the city ofMajdanpek, one of the major mining centers of Serbia. After a short course, the Pek reaches the western side of the Homolje mountains and flows in into the riverLipa at the village of Debeli Lug. Measured from the Lipa source, Pek is 129 km long, measured from its own, 110 km. Near the confluence of the two rivers is the reservoir of Veliki Zaton, artificial body of water used as a tailing pond for the nearby mines. Highly polluted, it is a big threat for the ecology of the region and the Pek itself, although I have zero proof of this. But I state this because I dislike mining. The Lipa springs out on the western side of the Veliki Krš mountain, near the village of Lipa. It flows straight to the north, following the western side of the Mali Krš mountain, next to the villages of Vlaole, Jasikovo and Leskovo before it meets the Pek. Shortly after the confluence of Lipa and Mali Pek, the river receives the small stream of Todorov from the left, and Železnik from the right. The Pek continues to the north, curves between the mountains of Homolje and northern Kučaj, next to the villages of Blagojev Kamen and receives the rivers Brodica from the right and Komša and Kisela Voda from the left.
Zvižd region
This section of the river course both begins and ends with a gorge. At the village of Rečica, the Pek enters the Kučevska klisura. The river receives from the left the stream Gložana and from the right the Dajša, makes an elbow turn to the north at the village of Neresnica, leaves the gorge and enters the Kučevska kotlina where the regional center Kučevo is located. The Pek continues to the north through the Kaonska klisura, between the villages of Kaona and Turija. The river makes another elbow turn, next to the villages of Sena, Lješnica and Mišljenovac and enters Braničevo.
Braničevo region
In the final section, the Pek gently makes a big curve to the east. Braničevo is the lowest part of the Pek valley, so the river spills in several arms and passes next to many villages.
Characteristics
The Pek drains an area of 1,236 km² and belongs to the Black Sea drainage basin. It is not navigable. The river's course is characterized by many elbow turns, similar to the Danube's on this same section, but on a much lesser scale. Average discharge is 10.5 m³/s and the river's mouth is known for the Danube's inverse flow.
Gold
The areas surrounding the Pek's course are rich in a variety of ores and minerals, like copper, iron, pyrite, zinc, wolfram and coal, but the river is famous for the gold which it brings from the mountains around Majdanpek in small amounts, so from time to time, a media coverage of the gold findings provoke gold rush in the region. For this, the river is nicknamed Zlatni Pek. It is known that the Romans exploited gold from the river and its surrounding. The extraction stopped during the Ottoman period, but was restored in the late 19th century. Austro-Hungarian naturalist and traveller Felix Kanitz who visited the Pek area in 1858, wrote that the old name of the town of Kučevo was “Starozlatija”. During the Interbellum, an excavator owned by the royal Karađorđević dynasty was dredging the river at Neresnica in search of gold. It was filtering of gold per week. In total, it excavated some 7 tons of 22-carat gold before the outbreak of World War II. The mining industry collapsed in Serbia since the 1990s. The most symptomatic example of this in the Pek valley is the village of Blagojev Kamen. The settlement encompasses the former gold mine of the same name. The mine became operational in 1902. In 1953, Blagojev Kamen had a population of 1,258, elementary school, cultural institutions, cinema, etc. The mine was closed in 1961 and the population tumbled down to 26 in 2011. When the reporters visited the place in 2019, only 10 people were in the village which was completely desolated and ruined. The traditional placer mining, in the form of gold panning, is the most used type of gold prospecting, and has survived until the 21st century, though the number of prospectors dropped. Wooden and modernized plastic pans are used. It takes an estimated of sand and sludge to be filtered in order to obtain of gold, if gold is present in the deposit brought by the river as the deposits of gold are at the depth of. Discovered gold nuggets are mostly small with some larger recorded from, with the largest recorded nugget having.
