Three cities reviving protests against Rio Tinto’s lithium project in Serbia

Opponents of Rio Tinto’s plan to mine and process a lithium and boron ore called jadarite in western Serbia held a protest in Loznica. Representatives of local activist group Ne damo Jadar announced that such gatherings would be organized in the nearby cities of Valjevo and Šabac as well.

Several thousand people demonstrated in the western Serbian city of Loznica against Rio Tinto’s project Jadar, marking what could be the start of another in a string of protests, which began in 2021. Activists from the area said rallies would be held in neighboring cities, too, with a possibility of expansion throughout the country.

Marijana Petković from the Ne damo Jadar group accused the authorities of breaking the law by approving new infrastructure to be built for the planned lithium and boron mining operation and a processing facility. Rio Tinto filed in February for connecting a future 110 kV transformer station to the grid. The activists are also upset because of indications that the company expects to get approval for an exploitation field. It would imply priority in mining the unique lithium and boron ore, called jadarite.

The Lotel television station in Loznica never came to the Gornje Nedeljice village nor has it given the opportunity to the opponents of the Jadar project to speak, said Nebojša Petković from local group Ne damo Jadar

At the protest, the building of local media outlet Lotel was spray-painted and a poster saying “disturbing content” was glued onto it.

“They don’t have any big influence, but they do on a part of the population in Loznica. And they never came to Nedeljice to film what we have, those houses of ours that are whole, nor to film the demolished houses. They never produced a single report. They never gave the opportunity to us or to experts, not a single opponent of the Jadar project, to come to their television studio,” Nebojša Petković from Ne damo Jadar told N1 TV.

The village of Gornje Nedeljice, where the activist group is based, is the site of the proposed mine and processing plant.

Nebojša Petković pointed out that national TV stations of France, Italy and Sweden and other countries and even one from Japan have reported about the Jadar project.

Next protest scheduled for July 24 in Valjevo

The next protest is scheduled for July 24 in Valjevo, and one will probably be held in Šabac, according to Nebojša Petković. He stressed that further activities in the three cities would be coordinated. Exploratory drilling has been conducted around Valjevo and Šabac, too, prompting numerous protests.

Petković jokingly called the three cities the Serbian Bermuda triangle and expressed hope that other areas in Serbia would join the resistance.

The planned investment has been countered by some of the biggest and most widespread protests ever held in the country, in several waves. The European Commission approved a strategic status in early June to the Jadar project.

Balkan Green Energy News has a chronological overview of the key events since 2001.

Nearby lithium project across the river Drina, in BiH, also faces resistance

Notably, in a repeated vote held recently in the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, a civic initiative to declare Majevica a natural park failed to receive sufficient support from lawmakers. The mountain is near Jadar, on the other side of the Drina river, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Republic of Srpska is one of the two political entities making up Serbia’s neigboring country, and the other one is called the Federation of BiH.

Activists are also demanding an urgent moratorium on the approval of concessions for exploration and exploitation of ores and other resources.

Citizens in the area have held multiple rallies against the local lithium mining project, supported by local authorities.