Constitutional Court of Serbia rules in favor of Rio Tinto’s lithium project

The Constitutional Court of Serbia declared unconstitutional and unlawful a government decree from 2022 that annulled the local spatial plan for Rio Tinto’s project for a lithium mine and processing plant. The site is on the territory of the city of Loznica in the country’s west.

Dozens of mines are planned in Serbia including several exploration projects for jadarite. The mineral, named after the Jadar river near Loznica city, is abundant in some locations. Investors are betting on profitable production of lithium carbonate, one of the essential compounds for batteries, as well as boric acid.

Protesters blocked one of the main streets in the center of Belgrade today in front of the Constitutional Court, in extreme heat. Inside, the judges ruled that the government’s decree from 2022, which abolished the local spatial plan for Rio Tinto’s Jadar project, was unconstitutional and unlawful.

Case in point of nontransparency

Jadarite was discovered more than two decades ago and the Anglo-Australian mining giant caught it early on. Activists have been complaining of a lack of transparency and environmental risk for several years now.

The resistance culminated in massive protests, which prompted the Government of Serbia to halt the project in January 2022 by scrapping the spatial plan. Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, who is now the speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia, announced the decision. “Rio Tinto absolutely didn’t provide enough information to the people in Jadar, Rađevina, in local places and local villages. It also didn’t provide enough information to the Government of the Republic of Serbia,” she stated at the time.

Another case in point was that the case IU0-39/2022 at the Constitutional Court was also unknown to the general public. It was reportedly launched under Rio Tinto’s initiative.

The tribunal determined that the government has exceeded its authority, pointing out that the way that the 2022 decree on the special purpose area spatial plan was issued doesn’t align with the constitution nor with the laws on the government and the environmental impact assessment.

Furthermore, according to an earlier news report, Rio Tinto has warned Serbia that it would launch an international arbitration to protect its investment.

Nova.rs news portal learned that the court’s Deputy President Milan Škulić wrote a dissenting opinion in the ruling.

Citizens’ appeals meanwhile ignored

Savo Manojlović from Kreni-promeni, one of the movements that organized the protests in 2021 and 2022, accused the Constitutional Court of rushing to issue the ruling in coordination with the authorities and Rio Tinto. He noted that the institution has been silent for more than a year on a related appeal.

Namely, the opponents of the Jadar project submitted a petition with over 38,000 signatures in accordance with the Law on the Referendum and the People’s Initiative, to ban the exploration and mining of lithium and boron in the entire country. It obligated the National Assembly of Serbia to discuss the matter but the parliament disregarded the document.

Of note, Kreni-promeni participated in local elections for the first time this year, entering municipal parliaments.

The Constitutional Court highlighted the fact that today’s ruling doesn’t reinstate the spatial plan from 2020. The Government of Serbia is authorized to decide on the future of Rio Tinto’s project in line with the constitution and law, the justices added.