The point was made, but maybe it was only half time.
After several weeks of environmental protests, the authorities in Serbia halted the project in 2022 "sailor" of the British-Australian company Rio Tinto, but the corporation recently published a draft environmental impact study should it be carried out.
Around the opening of the mine and the mining of lithium in Jadro near Loznica, in the west of the country, spears are breaking again.
Environmental activists and local residents announce protests, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić says that the opening of the mine "is possible in 2028, but that digging will not begin without guarantees from the Germans", who are interested in the production of lithium batteries for the automotive industry.
"Until the Germans guarantee us that the rivers and mountains will be clean and that disposal for the landfill will be in accordance with the highest European standards, we will neither try nor start," said Vučić.
- Rio Tinto in Serbia - what we know so far and what is written in the documentation
- What does the cancellation of the spatial plan of Loznica mean for the Jadar and Rio Tinto project
- The Government of Serbia stopped the Jadar project, does Rio Tinto have grounds to claim compensation
It was announced that the local elections in Serbia were just over a thousand-page Rio Tinto document, in order to "stop misinformation about this project," they told the BBC in Serbian.
The study showed that the project can be implemented "in accordance with the highest domestic and international standards of environmental protection", claim Rio Tinto in a written response.
However, experts are divided - some say there is no safe way to mine lithium, others, who participated in the Rio Tinto study, say it is possible.
BBC is in Serbian from now on and on YouTube, follow us HERE.
There is nothing to discuss
Vladica Cvetković, professor of the Faculty of Mining and Geology and member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, called in September 2023. to a "real and reasoned public debate" on whether Serbia needs a lithium mine near Loznica.
Almost a year later, he estimates that there is even less readiness for dialogue among those who have opposed the project and its representatives from the beginning.
"I don't see that the renewal of the dialogue will be easily feasible even in the next democratic government.
"But what I am quite sure of is that any future government in Serbia, be it totally democratic or even more corrupt than this one, will try to exploit lithium," says Cvetković in a written response to the BBC in Serbian.
- Jadarite, Rio Tinto and what you need to know about it
- Who will decide the fate of Rio Tinto in Serbia?
- Gornje Nedeljice, the day after the withdrawal of the law: "Nothing is over, the fight is yet to come"
The published study should not be the subject of discussion, because it is an internal matter of the company, says Dragana Đorđević, a professor from the Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, for the BBC in Serbian.
"It has to rely on the spatial plan for a special purpose, which has been canceled, on the project which has also been stopped, and it should be preceded by a conceptual solution that the company does not have, therefore, it is not a study at all.
"The company itself, as they stated, does not guarantee or bear responsibility for the truth or falsity of the published data," says Đorđević.
There is also a lack of a document that should "unite all three units: the mine, the ore processing plant and the landfill, because their joint effect on the environment is greater than the individual one," he says.
According to the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, Rio Tinto was supposed to submit the strategic assessment with other documentation before it could build the mine - but it didn't.
In February 2022, weekly Vreme it says that the company made a study, but did not submit it to the Ministry of the Environment, because the government had suspended the project in the meantime.
Multiple consequences for the environment
Environmental activists, as well as experts, have opposed this project from the beginning, considering it irreversibly harmful to the environment.
Dragana Đorđević estimates that lithium mining will permanently destroy quality agricultural land, pollute the air with toxic dust and concentrated sulfuric and hydrochloric acids.
Toxic mine waters, with a high concentration of boron and other harmful substances, would come out under pressure to the surface of the earth, polluting the underground waters of the Drina River, the reservoir of the highest quality water in western Serbia, she warns.
Toxic waste water will also be created, but also tens of millions of tons of hazardous waste material, which would be, he says, a chemical time bomb.
"Mining that discards hazardous waste into nature where it remains in the form of tailings cannot be considered ecological," Đorđević believes.
But the authors of the study for the company say otherwise.
The most modern equipment would be used for the construction of the mine and the exploitation of jadarite, in order to use as much of the mineral from the deposit as possible, while at the same time reducing the amount of waste and protecting the environment, says Nikola Lalić from the Faculty of Mining and Geology.
"Waste from the underground part of the mine would be disposed of in a specially designed place in the immediate vicinity of transport roads and the main mining-infrastructure facilities, protected by an impermeable protective foil," explains Lalić, one of the participants in the study, for the BBC in Serbian.
Drainage layers, a peripheral channel for receiving atmospheric and seepage water from the landfill, which would then be drained to the pool, and from there to the water purification plant, are also planned, he explains.
There will be risks or potential incidents as with any industrial plant, but everything is listed in the draft, and solutions are proposed, says Aleksandar Jovović, another author of the study.
"Whatever you build, a school, a hospital, you will affect the environment.
"It is indisputable that biodiversity will change on those 200 hectares where the project is planned, but all the results show that the impact will be almost negligible," he told the BBC in Serbian.
The study is only one of the documents required to obtain permission for the further continuation of the project, which does not mean that it will be accepted, he points out.
"I believe that the government wants to start it, or at least it seems that way, we'll see if it will happen, because everything is taking too long, and the question is how much the company is willing to sit idly by, since the costs are high.
"We are not defending the project, we just made a presentation based on years of research, but we do not participate or decide whether it will be opened," he says in a telephone conversation.
See how it was on one of the earlier protest because of the Rio Tinta project
'Big mistake'
Almost a year after the project was stopped, Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stosholm said that the mining company had not given up on Jadra.
"The reality is that it's an incredible resource. The world needs that, Serbia needs it.
“We have to figure out how to do it. The only thing I would say today is that we didn't give up." Stosholm said.
After the government's decision to stop the project, Vučić said on several occasions that it was a big mistake and "yes Serbia destroyed because I've been listening to nonsense and nonsense about lithium".
"The mine in Jadro could deliver 58.000 tons of lithium per year, which is 17 percent of production electric vehicles in Europe, i.e. 1,1 million pieces," said the President of Serbia.
If the project is implemented, it could provide 90 percent of Europe's current lithium needs and help make Rio Tinto the leading lithium producer, reports Reuters agency.
Project Jadar
In 2004, geologists from the Rio Tinto company established the existence of a previously unknown mineral deposit, naming it jadarite, after the river Jadar that flows along the slopes of Mount Cer and flows into the Drina.
It turns out that the mineral contains lithium and boron, which are used, among other things, in the ceramic, glass, battery and lubricant industries.
It's lithium the main component of batteries which are used in mobile phones and electric vehicles and the demand for it is constantly increasing.
The World Bank estimates that global lithium production will have to increase by 500 percent by 2050.
According to current knowledge, the jadarite deposit near Loznica is unique in the world and it is estimated that close to 10 percent of the world's explored lithium sources are located there. he told the BBC in Serbianformerly Vladimir Simić, professor of the Faculty of Mining and Geology, for the BBC.
Rio Tinto had hoped the mine project, worth $2,4 billion, would help it become one of the world's 10 largest producers of the mineral.
According to Rio Tinto's earlier announcement, the project would enable three final products - lithium carbonate, which is used to make batteries and electric vehicles, boric acid and sodium sulfate.
The deed was placed 2022, the construction of the mine was supposed to start in 2023, and the opening was planned for 2026.
Since the announcement of the project, some residents have sold their houses, properties, and fields to this international company, which has been conducting research in that area for several years.
So far, only one of the 52 households in the central area, where the development of mining and processing processes is planned, has not agreed to sell their properties, according to Rio Tinto.
- On law and protests in Serbia: Which laws Vučić did not sign and why
- What you need to know about changes to the Law on Expropriation in Serbia
- Rio Tinto has apologized for the lost radioactive capsule
Against the company and around the world
The British-Australian giant, which has been operating for almost a century and a half, has not only met with protests from locals and activists in Serbia.
In September 2021, the company was accused of polluting rivers in Papua New Guinea by releasing toxic substances.
Farmers in the north of Portugal also protested against the opening of surface lithium mines.
The whole case forced i the Prime Minister of the country, Antonio Koštu, to resign after an investigation into alleged corruption in connection with concessions granted for lithium mines.
"The Jadar project in Serbia is mainly criticized on the basis of other lithium projects (in the world) that are not comparable to it in technical or any other aspect," says the corporation.
Also watch this video: Camping against Rio Tinto in the center of Belgrade
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube i Viber. If you have a topic proposal for us, contact us at bbcnasrpskom@bbc.co.uk
Bonus video:
