Disastrous Rio Tinto lithium project a definite no-go: Serbian lawmaker

Serbia’s plans to mine one of Europe’s largest deposits of lithium have spurred widespread protests in the country, with thousands coming out to oppose the project.

Reserves of lithium, a mineral in huge demand for electric car batteries, were discovered in Serbia’s western Loznica city by Anglo-Australian multinational mining giant Rio Tinto in 2004, estimated to be around 158 million tons, or 17% of Europe’s total reserves.

Rio Tinto’s mining license was cancelled by the government in 2022 after a series of large protests, but the decision was backtracked this July and the firm given the go-ahead to extract the mineral in the Jadar Valley.

Demonstrations against the project have since been staged in various cities, including the capital Belgrade, with concerns centering around the environmental impact of the excavation.

For Danijela Nestorovic, a member of Serbia’s parliament, the environmental costs of the project would be “disastrous.”

“This lithium mining project would be disastrous for the lush and fertile Jadar Valley, and the environmental costs would be terrible,” Nestorovic, an environmentalist and founding member of the Ecological Uprising movement, told Anadolu.

Along with the environment, the project also poses a threat to tens of thousands of people, she warned, pointing out that “nowhere in the world has a lithium mine been developed in a densely populated agricultural area.”

“Some 100,000 people would have to be relocated from an area where their families have lived for centuries,” she said.

“Even the exploration pits are polluting the surrounding soil and groundwater, and toxic substances are already leaking into nearby water sources.”

Any accident could lead to massive toxic leaks “into the Jadar River and end up in the Danube,” which would be hazardous for the entire region and other countries as well, said the lawmaker.

“This would pollute not only the capital Belgrade and other parts of Serbia, but all the countries along the way to the Black Sea,” said Nestorovic.

– ‘We have no reason to trust them’

Despite the widespread opposition to the project, the Serbian government has been playing up its potential economic and geopolitical benefits.

After signing a pact with the EU last month, President Aleksandar Vucic hailed the agreement, which includes lithium supplies, as a “turning point” for Serbia that would help it “make a leap toward the future.”

“This will bring us at least €6 billion ($6.5 billion) in new investments,” he said, declaring it the “largest investment ever made in our country.”

Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic later said the project would have a production capacity of 58,000 tons of refined battery-grade lithium carbonate per year, enough to power 1 million electric vehicles and meet 90% of Europe’s current lithium needs.

Vucic also visited Loznica for consultations with residents, promising steps to protect the environment and reduce any negative impacts.

The president has also said there will be no excavations “until we receive guarantees … in the next 12 to 18 months,” adding that they will engage the best experts from Serbia and abroad.

Nestorovic, like other protesters, remains skeptical, pointing to Rio Tinto’s “appalling environmental record.”

“From supporting the German war machine with iron ore from Spain, to the civil war they caused in Papua New Guinea, to the recent destruction of the 46,000-year-old Jukaan Gorge, an ancient Aboriginal site in Australia … We have no reason to trust them,” she said.

She also raised concerns of corruption, questioning why the Serbian government is “lobbying so hard” on Rio Tinto’s behalf.

In response to the mass demonstrations against the project, Serbian authorities, including Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, have warned that protesters could face charges.

Activists are demanding that lawmakers impose a permanent ban on the mining of lithium and boron in Serbia, and set a deadline that expired some 10 days ago.

Nestorovic stressed that demonstrations will continue until the government listens to their demands, saying the movement has popular support among the people.

“On behalf of the Ecological Uprising parliamentary group, I’m free to say that there will be more opposition and more protests in the near future,” she said.

“Rio Tinto’s lithium mine is a definite no-go.”

• Ecological Uprising parliamentary group
• President Aleksandar Vucic
• Serbia’s western Loznica city