As a European and LTR LTH, I had also hoped that Europe would be interested in Australian lithium of the highest quality due to positive trends.
Now the interests seem to be shifting to Serbia.
Perhaps this is also a reason why our BOD decided in favour of the deal with the Chinese (BSIT).
We are in business with South Korea, the USA and now China is also coming into play.
In my perception, negotiations were also held with the EU, but TO was fed up with the unbearable hesitation and dithering of the sleepyhead Europeans and is sending a clear signal:
If you don't want us, then take note that we can do otherwise...
Is Scholz traveling to Belgrade?Serbia paves the way for lithium mining
16.07.2024, 22:18Listen to articleSerbia grants the license for the largest lithium mine in Europe. The raw material is important for electromobility, and Serbia could become the most important producer on the continent. The treasure to be unearthed is clearly arousing desire.
The Serbian government has cleared the way for lithium mining in the Jadar Valley. This happened after years of protests by environmental activists. This also increases the chances of Serbian lithium deliveries to the EU. The mining company Rio Tinto has been granted a license for the largest lithium mine in Europe that had been cancelled in the meantime. Belgrade thus followed a ruling made by the Serbian Constitutional Court a few days earlier.
This could give a boost to the supply of car manufacturers in Europe for the production of electric cars. Lithium is mainly needed for the construction of batteries. A Serbian TV station reported that Chancellor Olaf Scholz could travel to Belgrade on Friday. The German government did not want to confirm this when asked.
For years, the European industry has been looking for suppliers of lithium all over the world and is in tough competition with China, which is now the leader in the field of electric cars. Chinese companies have secured lithium mines and processing facilities in many countries. China's President Xi Jinping also stopped in Serbia on his trip to Europe. However, because battery technology is now classified as a strategically important area by the EU and Germany, European manufacturers and governments are striving to become more independent from China.
Is Scholz pushing for a strategic partnership with Serbia?
The Serbian private broadcaster N1 TV reported that Chancellor Scholz and EU Vice President Maros Sefcovic would travel to Belgrade on July 19. There they are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding between the EU and Serbia that would initiate a strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials, supply chains for battery production and electric vehicles.
The planned lithium mining has sparked controversy in Serbia because environmentalists accused Rio Tinto of massive potential environmental damage. Rio Tinto had significantly revised its plans due to the protests. A few days ago, a Serbian court ruling overturned the Serbian government's 2022 decision to cancel Rio's license due to a lack of environmental protection measures. Rio welcomed the decision and said the project would be subject to strict environmental conditions, including an "extensive phase" of legal, environmental and permitting procedures and public consultations before implementation.
The $2.4 billion Jadar lithium project in western Serbia could meet 90 percent of current European lithium demand and make the company a leading producer of the raw material. Serbian environmentalists criticized that lithium mining would still cause massive damage and called on Germany to use domestic sources instead. Serbia's Mining and Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic, however, told the Tanjug news agency that the Jadar project represents "the future of Serbia's economic positioning in Europe."
In fact, there are lithium deposits in Germany, but on a smaller scale. Last Friday, the company Zinnwald Lithium GmbH announced that it wanted to increase its planned production in a mine in Saxony from 12,000 tons per year to up to 18,000 tons. In February, it announced that the lithium deposits at Zinnwald were significantly larger than originally expected. However, mining is not expected to begin until 2028 at the earliest. The extraction of lithium in the Upper Rhine Graben using deep geothermal energy is also being investigated.
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