The Minister of Mining and Energy, Zorana Mihajlovic, stated yesterday that the realization of the “Jadar” project will be in accordance with the decision of the citizens in the referendum.
“It is important to decide whether we are against lithium or not. Everything that the so-called environmental movements say, that the state has signed a contract with Rio Tinto, that the Drina will dry up, that the river Jadar will disappear, that houses will collapse – these are all untruths. We still do not have an assessment of the impact on the environment,” Mihajlovic said for TV Happy. She emphasized that this, as well as any other project in the field of mining, will be realized only if the standards of environmental protection are respected.
She also pointed out that, if there is a way to extract lithium from jadarite, without destroying the environment, then it will be done.
Mihajlovic pointed out that it is up to the state to explain what lithium is, “so that everyone knows that it is oil and gold of the 21st century and that it is a huge chance for the entire economy.”
“We want a complete production chain, which means that we can earn 15 billion euros, which is a third of our GDP. But, we repeat that from the first day, there are no decisions if our environment will not be healthy,” she explained, N1 reports.
