“Juro lithium” decided to open a surface mine near Divci, states councilor Radovic in the councilor question to the local parliament.
Member of the Assembly of the City of Valjevo Ljubomir Radovic, a representative of the opposition Local Front Valjevo, sent a written question to the local parliament regarding the announced projects of the Canadian corporation “Euro Lithium Inc”, ie the company “Euro Lithium Balkan d .o.o. based in Divci.
In the committee question, Radovic refers to the document entitled, translated from English, “Technical report, assessment of mineral resources and preliminary assessment of the economics of lithium and borate deposits near Valjevo, Kolubara district, Serbia”, from which he concludes that this is a lithium exploitation project in the immediate vicinity of the town of Kolubara, in the wider area of the village of Divci.
The report states, Radovic reports, that in the vicinity of Valjevo, the much-mentioned company “Rio Tinto” was the first to perform exploratory drilling these days, back in 1997, that they were continued in 2003, and that this company then left them. Since 2011, research has been continued by two companies, LithiumLi and Euro Lithium. The findings showed the profitability of the exploitation of the mentioned minerals, so “Juro lithium” decided to open a surface mine near Divci, states councilor Radovic.
He adds that the planned preparatory works reveal the scope of this operation – for the needs of the mine, it will be necessary to relocate the railway, roads, intersections of roads and railways, relocate 110 and 220 kilovolt power lines, then divert certain parts of the Kolubara River, demolish residential and other buildings.
“The exploitation of lithium and borate, it is known from before, is a procedure that endangers the environment in large areas,” states Ljubomir Radovic in the committee question. In support of this thesis, he cites the statement of Zvezdan Kalmar, president of the Coalition for Sustainable Mining in Serbia, given on the occasion of the announced exploitation of lithium in the Jadar river valley, which states that this procedure requires huge amounts of water, energy and chemicals”.
Having all the above in mind, councilor Ljubomir Radovic asked the City Assembly whether the authorities of the city of Valjevo are familiar with the project of the corporation “Juro Lithium” and its possible consequences for the already excessively polluted environment. If so, the councilor asks to be provided with a brief summary of previous knowledge about this project and information on whether, when and with whom talks were held about it and whether the city has taken on any obligations in that regard.
“If the city authorities do not know about this so far, I ask the assembly to oblige the mayor, the City Council or some other city body to study the documentation on this project and inform the assembly and the public of the city of Valjevo about its findings,” said councilor Radovic, Politika reports.
