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Rio Tinto is attempting to portray the potential environmental impacts of its Jadar project in Serbia as smaller than they are, Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute said. The company’s request to the responsible ministry to determine the scope and content of the environmental study covers only the mining part of the proposed investment.
The first document in the procedure for an environmental impact assessment of the Jadar project should have been sent back for improvement as it is inadequate and not in line with Serbian regulations, RERI said. Last month the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued for public overview the documents that Rio Tinto submitted with the request to determine the scope and content of the required environmental study, but only for the mine. The Jadar project also consists of a plant for processing jadarite – a unique lithium and boron ore – and the disposal of tailings and so-called poor ore.
The company is trying to portray the potential environmental impacts as smaller than they are, RERI claimed. That way Rio Tinto and the ministry contradicted their own commitments to materialize the project under the highest European environmental standards, the nongovernmental organization said.
By dividing up the project, Rio Tinto and the Ministry of Environmental Protection have contradicted their own commitments to conduct it in line with the highest European environmental standards, according to RERI
Rio Tinto turned to salami slicing – artificial division into parts – to avoid the environmental impact assessment for the entire project, RERI pointed out. The use of such a tactic can obscure the cumulative and comprehensive effect.
“Rio Tinto submitted a request in which it stated that the project refers only to the exploitation of lithium and boron ore from an underground mine, which is not an independent project, but only part of the Jadar project,” Programme Director of RERI Mirko Popović noted.
Salami slicing cuts costs for investors, gets them permits faster
The request doesn’t include the environmental impact of ore processing. It is unclear what types of reagents will be used, what types of waste and wastewater will be generated and how they will be treated. How the mine will be supplied with water from the alluvium of the Drina river remains unknown. In addition, the documentation lacks a description of the deposition of sludge from the production of lithium carbonate, boric acid and sodium sulfate, and its negative effects on the environment are potentially significant, RERI underscored.
Popović explained there are numerous benefits for investors from dividing up a project, including the reduction of investment costs and getting construction and mining permits faster. If the negative impacts on the environment are not comprehensively assessed, the measures prescribed by the study will not be adequate either, and therefore the investor has lower investment costs in environmental protection, health protection and the quality of life of the local population, he added.
The company failed to include ore processing, waste, wastewater, water supply and the disposal of sludge from the processing plant
The Environmental Protection Institute of Serbia earlier stipulated that the company would need to cover all the phases of the jadarite ore exploitation and processing in one study.
“The probability that the competent authorities will decide in the next impact assessment procedure for the second part of the mine that the project cannot be implemented, or at least not in those capacities, is significantly reduced, which gives the investor the opportunity to start the implementation of the project even though the overall environmental impacts have not been assessed,” founder of RERI Jovan Rajić stated.
The company rushed to submit a request under the current Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, even though a new bill was sent to the National Assembly and its adoption is expected in the coming days, he added. It would enhance the project holder’s responsibility, explicitly prohibit dividing up a project and give more space to the public in the decision-making process, Rajić said.
Human rights, environment in jeopardy
Given the troublesome state of the rule of law in Serbia, the Jadar project cannot be implemented without jeopardizing human rights and the environment, which is confirmed by the irregularities observed in the environmental impact assessment procedure, as well as the repression of citizens, environmental activists and civil society organizations that legally expressed their disagreement with the project, RERI concluded.
According to information from the request, 7.2 million cubic meters of tailings and poor ore would be excavated during the mine’s entire projected operation. It would take a landfill of 450 times 460 meters with a height of 60 meters to dispose of the material, RERI added.
The National Assembly of Serbia is currently debating a bill, submitted by 86 opposition members of parliament, to ban exploration, mining and processing of lithium and boron ores.
Of note, Balkan Green Energy News has published and is regularly updating a chronological overview of the key events in the development of the Jadar project since 2001, when Rio Tinto arrived in Serbia.
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