Although Emmanuel Gioffre was adamant that the EU would never support a project without an environmental impact study and confirmation that the highest standards of protection were met, one seems to have “missed” them. They gave 5.6 million euros for the Vector research project, whose goal is to encourage citizens towards mining and lithium, and there was also some pocket money for Rio Tinto itself.
Although not even two years have passed since Ana Brnabić theatrically “put an end” to Rio Tinto’s “Jadar” project under the pressure of several months of environmental protests, Aleksandar Vučić’s constant whining about the “missed opportunity” and the constant activities of the company itself have strengthened the public perception that after all, it was only about a comma. We saw the last such episode last week when Rio Sava Exploration, the domestic subsidiary of Rio Tinto, tried to demolish houses on the plots they bought in the vicinity of Loznica and were prevented from doing so by local activists who oppose the opening of a lithium mine.
In a fantastically titled announcement about the “removal of building elements of traditional architecture”, the company explained that the house demolition work is by no means the beginning of the construction of the “Jadar” project, but that these buildings represent a “potential safety and health risk for our employees” and the local community. Although such a demonstration of care should certainly have contributed to trust, it is difficult not to wonder how to expect the fulfillment of high environmental standards in the planned facility by a company that did not even provide its employees with a normal office space, but forced them to crawl around in abandoned and partially ruined houses.
But for the less cynical, the announcement offers an even greater romanticization of the whole endeavor: “The objects we collect during these activities will be categorized and preserved for further scientific study and potential museum display.” The British Museum is unlikely to rush to buy artefacts from decades-old houses in which until yesterday someone lived, but effort is important. After all, in the latest periodic “Report on raw materials” of the European Commission, it is explained that the path from public opposition to mining to “passive tolerance” requires a lot of effort, and that a focus on cultural heritage can help in this.
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