The American news agency AP writes today from Gornji Nedeljice that local resident and activist Zlatko Kokanović does not want a lithium mine in his yard and will do everything he can to prevent its opening.
"All of us here, we are ready to lose our lives," the 48-year-old farmer told The Associated Press and continued: "They can shoot. That's the only way they can open the mine."
The AP writes that it is a lush agricultural valley in western Serbia that contains one of Europe's richest deposits of lithium, a metal used to make batteries for electric cars and key to the global transition to "green energy."
"Whether there should be a mine in the valley or not has become one of the most controversial issues in the Balkan country, which has sparked protests by thousands of people in a challenge to populist President Aleksandar Vučić," writes AP.
While the government insists the mine is an opportunity for economic development, critics say it would cause irreparable pollution to the Jadra valley, along with groundwater reserves, agricultural land and two small rivers that flow through the valley, the article said.
Thousands of people are expected at a large rally on Saturday in Belgrade, with a call to pass a law banning the exploitation of lithium anywhere in Serbia, and Kokanović will be there with his group "Ne damo Jadar", according to the agency.
"We are not interested in their profit. We grew up on this land and we will die on this land," said Kokanović, who has five children. "This land is nobody's property, it belongs to our children".
Research of lithium and boron deposits in the Jadra valley has been carried out for 20 years by the multinational mining company "Rio Tinto", which has drawn up plans for the opening of the mine, writes AP.
During its 150-year history, the US agency reminds, "Rio Tinto" has been accused of corruption, environmental degradation and human rights violations at its mining sites, a history that has upset residents of Jadro and environmental protection groups in Serbia.
Mass protests in 2021 and 2022 forced the Serbian government to temporarily suspend the mine plan, only to revive it in July before signing a memorandum on "critical raw materials" with the EU in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to the AP.
Dubravka Đedović Handanović, Minister of Mining and Energy of Serbia, said in an interview with AP that there are 158 million tons of lithium in the Jadra Valley, or about 17 percent of the total estimated reserves on the European continent.
Jadar, she said, is "one of the best-explored lithium deposits in Europe and probably one of the best in the world" and could "put Serbia at the very top not only in Europe, but around the world" in the fight against climate change change.
Đedović Handanović's signature is on the EU memorandum that envisages a "strategic partnership" on sustainable raw materials, battery supply chains and electric vehicles. The plan is not only to export raw materials, but also to encourage new technologies in Serbia, reports AP.
Any potential excavations will meet the highest EU standards, Handanovic told AP and promised that "we will not take any action if it is so negative that it would be harmful."
"In that case, the project will not be developed," she said, complaining about the "misinformation" allegedly being spread about the project, according to the AP.
In response, the government has set up a call center and medical team to monitor any potential health risks, she said.
Although this could push Serbia closer to the EU and help reduce the EU's dependence on China for lithium, critics argue that the risks of lithium mining still outweigh the benefits, AP writes.
Serbia is a candidate country for EU membership, but it also has close ties with Russia and China. China owns the largest copper mine in the country in eastern Serbia, AP reminds.
Dragana Đorđević, a professor at the University of Belgrade and an expert in environmental chemistry, belongs to a group of scientists in Serbia who found in a study that the land in the Jadra valley was already damaged during the research.
Jadar, Đorđević said, is an agricultural area with groundwater and rivers that often flood and can carry any toxic material downstream. The mine is "a big risk for the whole region," she said.
"Rio Tinto" announced that it will build an underground mine in accordance with EU safety standards. In a brief email to the AP, the company's subsidiary in Serbia said it "favors a fact-based public dialogue" and cited a separate draft environmental study in which all interested parties are invited to comment.
Officials said the mine would not open before 2028. Vucic described the current anti-lithium protests as political, orchestrated by unspecified foreign forces and directed against him and the government, reports AP.
In that valley, properties owned by the company "Rio Tinto Sava" are marked with "No access" signs and fenced off with plastic tape. The mine would encompass about 500 hectares of the spacious Jadra valley, which is dotted with corn and soybean fields.
Vladan Jakovljević, who is 60 years old, lives in the village of Stupnica, on a hill overlooking the valley. He, too, will not give up his way of life, his hives and a healthy environment for his family.
If the mine is opened, he claims, "there would be no life for us", he writes at the end of the AP article.
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