Why a lithium mine project in Serbia worries the European Union
At Thacker Pass in Nevada, USA, lies a vast lithium ore deposit. The Lithium Americas corporation has secured a permit to mine 73 square kilometers, sparking strong opposition from local residents and activists concerned about potential groundwater depletion and contamination. Despite ongoing lawsuits, construction of the mine is moving forward, with operations expected to begin in 2026. The project aims to supply lithium for one million electric vehicles annually.
This area is home to several Native American tribes who consider the land sacred. Nearby abandoned mercury mines, which operated until 1970, caused a spike in cancer rates and continue to leak toxins into the environment. As a former Nevada wildlife official noted, “Geese landing on the old mines are dead by morning.”
Now, a new environmental threat looms over the region with the permit granted to the Lithium Americas corporation to mine lithium, as the United States wants to accelerate the green transition and switch to electric vehicles.
In 2004, the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto started working in Serbia, attracted by the country’s rich mineral potential. After receiving an exploration permit, the company discovered the Jadar mine near the town of Loznica in western Serbia. This site contains a unique deposit of “jadarite”, a lithium sodium borosilicate mineral. The high-quality, large-scale lithium and boron deposit lies beneath the Jadar River, making it, as of today, the only place in the world where jadarite can be found. Jadarite was later confirmed as a new mineral by the International Mineralogical Association. The discovery was widely covered by mainstream media, with some outlets dubbing the new mineral “kryptonite,” a fictional substance from Superman’s planet. Bloomberg wrote, “In the shade of an Orthodox chapel, Rio Tinto has discovered kryptonite, the wonder material from Superman, which it hopes will transform its green energy business.”
An opportunity or a threat for the local population
When the government of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić presented the lithium extraction project in 2021, mass protests against mining activities paralyzed much of the capital, Belgrade, and other parts of Serbia for months, ultimately leading to the withdrawal of plans to open the Rio Tinto mine.
In the meantime, however, the company began purchasing plots of land and houses in the vicinity of the village of Gornji Nedeljice. According to Rio Tinto, there were a total of 656 plots of land within the project area, of which 419, or 63%, have been purchased, amounting to 167 hectares.
“In the central area of the project where the development of mining and processing facilities is planned, there were 52 homes. Of that number, 51 voluntarily sold their properties and moved, usually with the support of our company. In addition, another 23 residential facilities were identified which are not permanently inhabited, such as holiday homes, cottages or abandoned houses, of which 18 were purchased,” the Rio Tinto company officially announced.
Under public and environmental pressure, the Serbian government withdrew approval for the mining project’s spatial plan in 2022. Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić stated that the decision was the right one, emphasizing that the government listens to its people. President Vučić also remarked that the safety of citizens and environmental protection are paramount, though he personally believes that lithium extraction in Serbia presents a significant opportunity for the country’s economic growth and development.
The Jadar project is one of the largest greenfield lithium projects in the world. At the current price of $10 per kilogram, this would generate around half a billion dollars in annual revenue. With a projected mine life of 50 years, total revenue could amount to $25 billion for the operator.
Last month, President Vučić told the Financial Times that the mine, expected to open in 2028, would produce 58,000 tons of lithium annually. With current technology, this could be sufficient for 17% of Europe’s electric vehicle production, or about 1.1 million cars.
“Europe must remain sovereign in a changing world and not be dependent on others.”
Two years after the project was initially halted, the Serbian Constitutional Court overturned that decision in early July 2024. On July 19th, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade for a Critical Raw Materials Summit. During the meeting, the two leaders signed a memorandum of understanding between Serbia and the EU Commission, establishing a strategic partnership focused on raw materials, battery production chains and electric vehicles.
On this occasion, Chancellor Scholz emphasized that the deal with Serbia could reduce Europe’s dependency on China. “This is an important European project that contributes to Europe remaining sovereign and independent in the supply of raw materials in a changing world,” Scholz told journalists after his meeting with the Serbian President.
More than half a year ago, the German government criticized the election process in Serbia, but now it has become a loud proponent of lithium mining and supports the Serbian authorities in a project that has sparked significant opposition. While lithium deposits exist in other European countries, particularly in Saxony, a state in eastern Germany, Franciska Brantner, the German State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy and Climate Action and a member of the Greens in the Bundestag, told BBC News in Serbian that she supports the Jadar project, provided that the highest environmental standards are respected. She added that Germany is already working on similar projects in Saxony, as well as in her home region in the Rhine Basin in the southwest, but unfortunately, the mining technology there is not yet ready.
Boško Jakšić, a journalist and foreign policy expert from Serbia, believes that Serbia benefits more from raspberry exports (which reached 240 million euros in the first 10 months of 2023) than it would from lithium mining. He argues that the lion’s share of profits would go to Rio Tinto, while the rich agricultural region of the Jadar Valley, where tests were conducted, would be left ecologically devastated.
“While the public fears that the country will turn into a dumping ground for the European Union, leaders in Berlin and Paris assure us that mining would serve as an incentive for Serbia’s faster integration into the EU,” Jakšić said.
However, Chancellor Scholz emphasized that Germany cannot guarantee high environmental protection standards in lithium mining in Serbia, stating that responsibility lies with the company itself. On the other hand, Aleksandar Vučić reassured his citizens that Rio Tinto will comply with all environmental regulations. Nevertheless, questions arise: If the Serbian government failed to impose such obligations on Chinese companies mining in Serbia, how will it succeed with Rio Tinto, a company with a history of using environmentally harmful technologies that have polluted various parts of the world?
Behind the words “green energy”, projects dangerous to the environment
In September 2020, Rio Tinto was accused of polluting rivers in Papua New Guinea by releasing toxic substances. Residents of Bougainville claimed that the company’s actions caused health problems for 12,000 people living in the area. This incident occurred shortly after the resignation of the company’s CEO and two general managers, following a scandal over the destruction of World Cultural Heritage sites linked to Aboriginal communities in Australia. Rio Tinto’s mines in western Australia had destroyed caves that were sacred to these 46,000-year-old indigenous cultures.
According to the estimate of the American Geological Institute, there are about 26 million tons of lithium reserves in the world. Of that, Chile has by far the most, around 9.3 million. It is followed by Australia with 6.2, Argentina with 3.6 and China with 3 million. The rest are scattered across various continents.
Europe has not been intensively explored until now. It is known that certain reserves exist in Portugal, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Serbia and Spain. But, only in Serbia has the project to mine it begun.
“There is still too little information about eco-friendly lithium extraction,” says Dr. Dragana Đorđević, a professor at the Institute of Chemistry, Technology, and Metallurgy in Belgrade.
It appears that ecological experts, the public, and even Rio Tinto are uncertain of the potential effects, as only two mines in the world use a similar lithium extraction process that the company will use for extraction of lithium in Serbia. Both Rio Tinto’s mines, located in China and the United States, extract lithium from rock material, and however, in both cases, these mines are situated in desert regions, and their environmental impact extends up to 150 kilometers in diameter.
“Mining lithium destroys high-quality agricultural land, pollutes the air with toxic dust and releases concentrated sulfuric and hydrochloric acids,” Đorđević said. “Toxic mine waters, with high concentrations of boron and other harmful substances, would be forced to the surface under pressure, potentially contaminating the underground waters of the Drina River, which is the highest-quality water reservoir in western Serbia,” she warns. “Toxic waste water will be created, but so will tens of millions of tons of dangerous waste material, which would be a chemical time bomb.” “Mining that discards hazardous waste into nature where it remains in the form of tailings cannot be considered ecological,” Đorđević believes.
Environmental NGOs and inhabitants of Loznica have warned as well that the mine’s construction could lead to habitat destruction and water pollution. Many also fear the potential displacement of residents in the area.
Marijana Petković from the association Ne damo Jadar (We Won’t Give Up Jadar) says that residents of Loznica and surrounding villages will use all available means to prevent lithium extraction in their area. The association sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron asking him to halt the project. In his response, Macron stated that it is up to the people of Serbia to decide whether they want the mine or not.
At the end of August, the French president visited Serbia as part of a European tour, during which he met with the Serbian president. On that occasion, the two leaders signed an arms deal to sell French fighter jets to Serbia. “The people have decided, we will not give up Jadar and there won’t be a mine here,” Petković said.
If the lithium mine in Jadar near Loznica is opened, it will be the first such mine established in a populated area. However, Vladica Cvetkovic, PhD, professor at the Faculty of Mining and Geology at the University of Belgrade, notes that around 20 similar projects are currently being implemented or planned in Europe.
“I am truly surprised that in our country it is still claimed that the world has abandoned mining. It is evident that the assertion that Jadar would be the first such mine in a populated area is being used as a dramatic and alarming slogan without substantial concern,” Cvetkovic said.
“There is currently no lithium mine in Europe, and if the mine in Serbia begins operations in 2028 as planned, it will be the first lithium mine in a populated area. In the future, these mines will be located exclusively in populated areas,” he believes.
Lithium, Vučić’s political life insurance?
The Serbian Parliament is currently debating draft amendments to the Law on Mining and Geological Exploration, submitted by opposition parties, calling for a ban on lithium and boron mining. In the meantime, the entire management of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering resigned. For weeks, this faculty has been under pressure to make a positive public statement on the project and the dean of the faculty had been firmly opposed to the faculty issuing a formal position on lithium mining, arguing that the institution was not specialized in that area.
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