Although the Minister of Environmental Protection Irena Vujovic stated (on May 14, in the show Uranak on TV K1) that the decision to build a lithium mine near Loznica, within the Jadar project, will be made only on the basis of the Environmental Impact Study, Rio Tinto and European battery technology and production company InoBat has signed a Memorandum of Understanding according to which they will work together to establish a sustainable battery production and recycling chain in Serbia.
The partnership will cover the entire product life cycle, from exploitation to lithium recycling, Rio Tinto announced today.
About ten days ago, Vujovic said that the company Rio Sava Exploration, which is part of the Rio Tinto Corporation, is already doing a preliminary study concerning the scope and content of the study that will follow on the environmental impact assessment.
“We have almost been given some drafts in this regard and we have seen that there are shortcomings and asked them to supplement it, and we are now waiting for that,” said Vujovic, specifying that after that a study on environmental impact assessment will be done.
The Minister also promised: “Everything related to that will be available to the public. Nothing will be hidden there,” and added that a public debate will follow, in which the profession and the general public will be able to participate, as well as everything else in accordance with the law.
“We cannot condemn some things at the beginning,” the Minister of Environmental Protection added.
However, Rio Tinto has already started without waiting for the end of the study and the public debate. The conclusion is that they have no doubt at all that the Environmental Impact Assessment Study could stop their project.
The cooperation between the Jadar Project and InoBat is a visionary initiative that will support European aspirations for technological independence and enable the exchange of knowledge and information on lithium processing and recycling and technologies for the next generation of batteries, which will benefit Serbia and other European economies that join the initiative, they point out from Rio Tinto and are broadcast by Tanjug.
They add that Rio Tinto’s Jadar project in Serbia, one of the largest “greenfield” lithium projects in development, has the potential to annually produce about 55,000 tons of quality lithium carbonate that can be used without further processing for battery production in Europe, which is one of the largest growing electric vehicle markets in the world.
Rio Tinto further points out that the InoBat company, based in Europe, has a plant for research and development of batteries, as well as a pilot factory that is developing in Slovakia, to intend to increase production capacity by building giga-factories in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. InoBat’s goal is to serve the European market with innovative technological solutions, including the production and recycling of batteries for electric vehicles.
In 2020, Rio Tinto approved an investment of almost 200 million dollars in the preparation of the final phase of the study for the Jadar Project, which should be completed by the end of this year, followed by an investment decision. The quantity and high quality of the Jadar deposit have the potential for the mine and the plant to supply lithium to producers in the electric vehicle production chain.
Rio Tinto said in a statement that “if approved, the construction of mines and processing plants according to the highest environmental standards will take four years, and will be a significant investment for Serbia, with direct and indirect economic benefits for the Serbian economy.”
Rio Tinto does not seem to think that, despite all the public protests, citizens and experts who oppose the opening of mines and the exploitation of lithium in Serbia, this project could be stopped.
Rio Tinto does not seem to think that, despite all the public protests, citizens and experts who oppose the opening of mines and the exploitation of lithium in Serbia, this project could be stopped, Energija Balkana reports.
