A referendum will most likely be organized on the exploitation of lithium in the Jadar Valley, representatives of the Ministry of Mining and Energy announced during the panel “Does Serbia Need a Lithium Mine”, organized by the Nova Ekonomija in cooperation with the Heinrich Boell Foundation. On the other hand, part of the professional public believes that the project should be abandoned or postponed.
Both sides agree, however, that it is important to discuss such an important project, that the conversation must be conducted on the basis of arguments, not emotions.
“What is below the earth cannot be more valuable than what is above it. Agriculture and population are more important than that. The realization of the Jadar Project should be postponed or abandoned,” said Vladimir Stevanovic, a regular member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) in the Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences.
He thinks that it is good that there is a dialogue in the society on such topics, but he notes that they are “rare or late”, and that the Jadar Project is non-transparent.
He added that the research of lithium in the Jadar valley started much earlier, and not four years ago, as the representatives of the competent ministry claim.
“Ore tailings will remain permanent. Water is also a problem, but not its purification. How will we deal with atmospheric waters? Will those tailings be released under the pressure of water, as was the case with the tailings in Stolice,” says Stevanovic.
He added that the construction of the mine would endanger the water supply of Macva, as well as that we do not care enough about the protection of the environment.
“We don’t have a tidy environment, if we took care of it, then Rio Tinto would take care of it. We have to look to the future, lithium batteries are current now, what will happen in 30 years, if the vehicles run on hydrogen,” adds Stevanovic.
State Secretary at the Ministry of Energy and Mining, Jovanka Atanackovic, said that she believes that the trust in the state has not been shaken, because the state is talking to all parties and inviting them to enter into a dialogue on the lithium mine.
She estimated that a referendum will most likely be organized in Serbia regarding the exploitation of lithium. If the citizens decide positively on that, Serbia, as she says, should not only export lithium, but should also use it in production, which would achieve greater benefits in the value chain.
“We believe that the current energy transition should be seen as a chance for our people and country to become a leader in the region, using all the principles that apply today in the environment,” Atanackovic emphasizes.
She pointed out the fact that people often use the energy obtained by the devastation of the environment, while at the same time dealing with the environment and therefore represent “hypocrites”.
We have committed ourselves not to increase the share of degraded areas
“We don’t need a lithium mine, and I agree with acceptable environmental damage in cases where there is a clear public interest in it,” says Ratko Ristic, dean of the Faculty of Forestry.
He adds that he is against the lithium mine, because Serbia has ratified the conventions of the United Nations on climate change, biodiversity and land degradation.
“We have committed ourselves not to increase the share of degraded areas,” Ristic emphasizes.
Ristic estimates that the planned mine and Jadarite ore processing plant will destroy 533 hectares of land, of which about 240 hectares are forest in the basin of the Stavica stream.
According to him, that land is already contaminated, because the floods broke through the landfill of the former mine.
Ristic assessed that Serbia can be successful in agricultural engineering, production of software and furniture, not only in the field of mining.
He said that he has great trust in the state, but that there is a low degree of trust in the Ministry of Mining, which “extends mining, which in itself should be the goal.”
“It’s called guild autism, they lightly share licenses for lithium research in Serbia. No one should be surprised if there is a great outburst of popular discontent,” Ristic added.
Possibility of sustainable mining
Regarding that issue, Assistant Minister of Mining Dejan Milijanovic did not agree with him, saying that he believes in the possibility of sustainable mining that will not leave great consequences on the environment.
“With the recent enactment of four laws, miners are talking about environmental protection for the first time. Let us turn anywhere around us, react how the children would react, see pollution around us. I come from a devastated environment, from Lazarevac, but I have hope that mining activity can be made sustainable. Can I bring it back – I can’t, but future generations can,” Milijanovic said.
He called on the rest of the profession to work together on the improvement and reclamation of areas that have been devastated in the public interest, but that “the lungs of the city” can be built on 27 square kilometers endangered by surface exploitation.
“Over 90 percent of the locals who are in the devastated areas have stayed there, because they have security, to provide for their family, to have a personal income. People and the environment are the greatest wealth. If we fight declaratively for the environment, and the people leave, we will have a desolate land that is very beautiful, which our children will visit only when they remember that its roots are here,” Milijanovic said.
The Jadar project has been in front of the public for months and a dialogue should be held on it on the basis of science-based facts, says Vesna Prodanovic, director of Rio Sava Exploration (a research company of Rio Tinto).
She says that the competent ministry recently addressed the company with questions that were recently asked about the Jadar Project by the representatives of SANU, and emphasized that the answers to them will be available in the next few days.
He emphasizes that the modern mining-industrial complex in the Jadar Valley will be located on less than 400 hectares, and that it will not endanger agriculture.
She reminded that a part of the land in that area was already contaminated with other mining projects, as well as that jadarite was found only in this part of the world.
According to Prodanovic, the study of the impact of the future mine on the environment is currently being prepared, and when it is completed, the effects of the Jadar Project on the environment will be known. However, he adds that these risks will be minimized.
She added that there are already 50 plants in Serbia that are more dangerous than the ones planned in the Jadar Valley. He also believes that the Jadar Project can make a positive step forward in that area.
The representative of Rio Tinto assessed that the company was placed in the context of current pre-election political activities, in which they do not want to participate. Prodanovic called on the legal teams of non-governmental organizations that oppose the construction of the mine to work together with the legal team of Rio Tinto, as well as to express all suspicions of breaking the law at the meeting she proposed today.
“We have been dealing with Rio Tinto and its cash flows since 2004, later we were called by people from the village where the mine was planned, who said that they did not need the mine and that they wanted to engage in agriculture,” said Miroslav Mijatovic from Podrinje.
He emphasizes that the company has often violated the Aarhus Convention on the Protection of the Public’s Right to the Environment in the past, and adds that information about its investments is often inaccurate.
Mijatovic stated that Rio Tinto in Serbia violated Article 7 of the Law on Mining, Article on Planning and Construction, Waste Management, Law on Nature Protection, Law on Roads, Law on Agricultural Land, Forests, as well as the Law on State Cadastre.
He emphasized that the PACT sent the information to the competent courts, whose decisions are currently awaited. He says that they have been communicating with Rio Tinto since 2019, as well as that they have often received very brief information about the project from the company.
Mijatovic said that it is not true that Loznica is among the cities with the largest outflow of population, and added that lithium mines in the world are located in abandoned areas, while in the vicinity of Loznica, Rio Tinto wants to build a mine in a flooded area.
Professor Aleksandar Jovovic, from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade, assessed that the lithium exploitation project surpasses Serbia as a state, because it concerns the automobile industry, as well as other large industries that do not allow themselves to make mistakes in planning.
He also said that Rio Tinto had many failures in its long history, as well as that it is logical having in mind the size of the company. Jovovic added that at this moment, it is difficult to assess the impact of the future project on the environment, which is being done by his faculty, together with other institutions.
Petar Djukic, a professor at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy in Belgrade, believes that the sustainability of the Rio Tinto project is also at stake. Indicates that the goals for a better life for future generations should be considered:
“Serbia, like many countries in the world, is full of abandoned mines, with drilled devastated environments. Such mining should finally end,” said Djukic.
He also said that the institutions in Serbia were violated, as well as that the referendums went as the government that organized them wanted. The institution of general civil disobedience is being imposed, we are a deeply divided society,” Djukic added.
Djukic reminded that Lazarevac received ore rent until 1991 in order to recover from coal mining as an area. However, those funds failed because the money was spent for some other purposes within the city administration of Belgrade, to which the place administratively belongs, BiF reports.
