Serbia Again Protests Against Lithium Production

Rio Tinto rejects accusations by Serbian NGOs that “more than 100,000 people will be displaced during the project”

A new wave of popular protests has erupted in Serbia against the lithium mine of global mining giant Rio Tinto. According to activists from some Serbian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), “more than 100,000 people will be forced to leave their homes during the implementation of the Jadar project, which involves the production of lithium in the vicinity of the town of Loznica.”

The project has long been contested by the Serbian population. According to environmentalists, behind the apparently positive intention of the Serbian economy to mine lithium to produce batteries for electric cars and other components related to the energy transition, there is actually a “huge environmental impact.”

Protests have been going on in Serbia since the early 20s. While the Serbian government supports the project (the mine will bring great benefits, both economically and in terms of employment), environmental NGOs condemn it and express concern about the possible environmental disaster that will follow the construction of a lithium mine by the British-Australian company Rio Tinto.

For its part, Rio Tinto called “absolutely false” the statements of Serbian activists about the intention to “relocate tens of thousands of residents” in the vicinity of the town of Loznica. According to the Serbian press, “Rio Tinto also strongly denied the allegations of unspecified ‘corrupt business practices’” and “added that environmentalists’ claims about mining the mineral having a devastating impact on the environment are unfounded.”

“The constant efforts of activists to spread false, inaccurate, or incomplete information about Rio Tinto without any evidence completely undermine the possibility of a fact-based discussion with public opinion on the environmental, economic, and technological aspects of the Jadar project,” wrote the British-Australian industry giant in a memo. The company emphasized that the implementation of the Jadar project will “create thousands of highly qualified and well-paid jobs not only in the Loznica area, but also all across Serbia through related industries.”

“To demonstrate our willingness to engage in open discussion,” Rio Tinto wrote in closing, “we are willing to release the draft environmental impact assessment study in its current form to further support public dialog on the project.”

In 2004, one of the largest deposits of jadarite, a mineral composed mainly of lithium, was discovered in the town of Loznica, on the border between Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. This discovery has been called “exceptional” both in terms of the development of the Serbian economy and the energy transition process. In 2017, Serbian authorities signed a memorandum of understanding with Rio Tinto, expecting to launch the mine as early as 2022. However, the implementation of the ambitious project was immediately challenged by environmentalists, according to whom the mine would “create huge environmental problems.” And this is because the extraction of raw materials requires the use of a large amount of water (about 1.3 liters for each kilogram of product), which will be taken from the Drina and Jadar rivers, creating huge problems for the neighboring settlements. Another problem will be the production of rocks and industrial waste, which is difficult to get rid of. For example, Norway, with its territory 4.3 times larger than Serbia, has to dump rocks into the sea.

On the other hand, European Union leaders have lined up in support of the project, as the EU currently purchases lithium from Australia, Latin America, and China and through this new opportunity will see a significant reduction in import costs, becoming regionally independent in producing the key raw material for the Old Continent’s green future.