Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is set to give Rio Tinto the go ahead to develop Europe’s largest lithium mine two years after the project was terminated, the Financial Times said on Sunday.
Vucic told the newspaper that “new guarantees” from both the mining giant and the European Union looked promising in addressing Serbia’s concerns over whether necessary environmental standards would be met at the Jadar site.
Rio Tinto told Reuters, “We believe the Jadar project has the potential to be a world-class asset that could act as a catalyst for developing an electric vehicle (EV) value chain in Serbia”.
Deemed a critical material by the EU and the US, lithium is used in batteries for EVs and mobile devices.
“If we deliver on everything, (the mine) might be open in 2028” Vucic told the FT, adding that the mine was projected to produce 58,000t of lithium per year which would be “enough for 17% of EV production in Europe — approximately 1.1M cars.”
In 2022, Belgrade revoked licences for Rio’s US$2.4B Jadar project after environmental protests. In 2021 and 2022 Serbian environmentalists collected 30,000 signatures in a petition demanding that parliament implemented laws to halt lithium exploration in the country. Activists were largely concerned with water pollution, the displacement of residents, and damage to the area once the mine had closed.
Furthermore, the revival of the deal with Rio, and the EU’s involvement, are seen by western executives as an important signal of Serbia’s geopolitical alignment.
