2024-07-16 16:11:23
Abandoned in 2022 after a huge protest, the Jadar lithium mine, in the southwest of the Balkan country, will see the light of day. The Serbian government has authorized, on Tuesday July 16, the resumption of operations with a view to the controversial exploitation of lithium extraction by the Australian group Rio Tinto. This agreement officially made the start of the extraction work possible, a few days after a court decision that paved the way in this direction.
The government “take measures to restore the legal order as it existed before the adoption of the procedure declared illegal”we can read in the statement published by the Serbian authorities.
This decision follows a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Serbia, which ruled on Thursday that the decision of the Serbian government to suspend, in 2022, the license granted to the Australian side is not “not in accordance with the law or the law”.
Rio Tinto welcomed this decision, which allowed to resume operations, and promised, through what the project director, Chad Blewitt, called me “will be subject to strict environmental requirements, in accordance with Serbian and European Union regulations”.
Extraction begins in 2028
The future of the huge mineral deposits, which Rio Tinto will exploit through Loznica in western Serbia, has been the source of much political debate in recent years. And the protest may continue as hundreds of demonstrators gathered last week in front of the Constitutional Court.
For the opposition, this multi-billion euro project is a permanent threat to the area of the agricultural region of Jadar. “The government will be responsible for any conflict and conflict in society, because it has violated the constitution of the country, taken over its companies and become a puppet of foreign interests”One of the main opponents of the project, Savo Manojlovic, corrected it on Thursday in a message published on social networks.
With a long history of environmental attacks, Rio Tinto, for its part, shows the thousands of jobs that can be created and the situation that exploitation will give Serbia this strategic market for climate change.
Discovered in 2004, the Jadar lithium reserves, among the largest in Europe, could, according to the mining giant, make it possible to produce 58,000 tons of lithium carbonate annually, or a quantity sufficient for the 1.1 million cars – or 17% of European electric vehicles. production. However, in 2022, the Serbian government decided to suspend the license given to Rio Tinto, after a large demonstration against the mine.
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President Aleksandar Vucic, the country’s leader, has suggested that Serbia could start extracting lithium as early as 2028, following new recommendations given by the Anglo-Australian group. “We believe that I will not put anything or anyone at risk, but we must first receive guarantees from Europe that the environment and the lives of ordinary citizens will be preserved and improved with new jobs and wages of it’s better than today”Mr Vucic said on Monday.
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