Lithium: Protests erupt in Serbia in opposition to Rio Tinto’s Jadar lithium project

Rio Tinto is blind, deaf and stupid. Couldn’t see it WA huge lithium potential, particularly didn’t see LTR for investment. It stuffed up as it deserved.

Posted 13th September 2021 in  Industry news.
By Dominic Wells

Several thousand protestors streamed into Belgrade on Saturday, 11 September, demanding a halt to development at the proposed Jadar lithium project, currently being developed by Rio Tinto. The protests also demanded an address to the issue of pollution the country has been facing, calling for more stringent environmental regulation. In recent decades, the country has faced environmental problems caused by coal-fired power stations along with river and air pollution.

Rio Tinto has committed US$2.4Bn to develop Jadar and the integrated project aims to produce lithium carbonate to service the growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs). With Europe poised to become the second-largest consumer of lithium chemicals worldwide within the next decade, demand for European sources of lithium has become more important as the continent seeks more supply chain accountability and to reduce its reliance on China for battery metals.

Roskill View

These protests are the latest in a wave of demonstrations against battery metal mining projects in western nations.

Communities in and around potential mining projects in western nations have raised large opposition movements in recent years. These groups cite issues with noise, air pollution, water pollution, hazardous chemical disposal, land disturbance, and negative impacts on local wildlife associated with mining projects. Adding fuel to the fire is the negative perception of mining companies regarding local communities’ interests. In the case of the Jadar project, this has no doubt been exacerbated by Rio Tinto’s destruction of the Juukan Gorge caves in May 2020 when expanding its Brockman 4 iron ore mine in Australia.

Rapid demand growth for battery metals for the burgeoning EV sector has been driven by a large number of country’s commitments to decarbonisation. With Serbia currently seeking to join the EU, environmental regulatory improvement has been cited as one key area in which the country needs to improve significantly. However, these same countries now need to decide what mineral policy direction best suits their needs. They can maintain their reliance on overseas imports and have little direct control regarding the environmental cost of production, though will be insulated from the environmental impacts. Alternatively, they can develop domestic sources of these chemicals, set their own standards of production but bear the environmental cost and attempt to lessen it where possible.

Given the growing number of European mining projects looking to capitalise on domestic demand for lithium chemicals, further conflict between communities, miners, and the governments is inevitable. Regulation such as the European Union’s proposed Battery Passport scheme and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism touch on the issue, attempting to improve the environmental cost of non-EU producers. However, they have little to no impact on the conditions of domestic production. Should battery metal projects be developed, policymakers in lithium producing countries will need to self-regulate the conditions of production to appease both local groups and the producers themselves.