Thousands of citizens gathered on August 10 at the invitation of the Alliance of Environmental Organizations of Serbia after the government did not fulfill their request to adopt a law within 40 days prohibiting the mining of lithium and the opening of mines in the Jadar river valley in the west of the country.
“It seems that we have been victimized as a future mining colony and landfill. We will not allow that. That is why we are here today to raise our voices, to disagree and to defend survival in our country,” actress and environmental activist Svetlana Bojković told the crowd at the protest.
Professor Dragana Đorđević of the Faculty of Chemistry stated that the damage from the mine cannot be repaired.
“The remaining tailings have been poisoning for centuries, even millennia. We already have such places in Serbia. But that mining was not as intensive as what is being planned today,” Đorđević said.
Those gathered at the protest carry banners “Stop Rio Tinto”, “No to the mine, exploitation, eviction”, “Rio Tinto march from Serbia” and chant “You will not dig”. This is the last in a series of 50 gatherings of citizens that began at the end of June in Serbia, on the occasion of the announcement of the opening of a lithium mine in the Jadar river valley in the west of the country.
The initiators of the protest in Belgrade, Zlatko Kokanović and Nebojša Petković, announced that on the eve of the gathering on August 10, they were invited to an informative interview at the Security and Information Agency.
They announced on the Facebook page of the association “Ne damo Jadar” that they were released after a short conversation and that they were warned that the announced blockades after the protest were illegal, and that they should be ready to deal with the consequences. Numerous state officials spoke about the protests, who agreed with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, in the assessment that the main goal of the protests was to “overthrow the government” on the street.
Vučić repeatedly spoke positively about the “Jadar” project and stated that the lithium mine of the company “Rio Tinto” in Jadar should start working in 2026, “if guarantees are provided that there will be no threat to the environment and human health”.
On the other hand, environmental activists and part of the professional public pointed out the unfathomable consequences for the environment. On July 11, the Constitutional Court annulled the decision of the Government of Serbia, which stopped the “Jadar” project of the Australian company “Rio Tinto” in 2022.
Lithium is used to produce batteries for mobile phones, computers, electric cars. However, environmental organizations warn of unforeseeable consequences for the environment. The company “Rio Tinto” intended to open a lithium mine in the Jadar river valley in western Serbia. There, in 2004, this company discovered the ore “jadarite” – a combination of lithium and boron, and reserves of this metal on the world market in Serbia are estimated at over 158 million tons.
However, the Government of Serbia, headed by Ana Brnabić at the time, halted that project more than two years ago after mass protests and canceled the licenses of the Australian mining giant “Rio Tinto”.
However, in 2024, Serbian officials returned this project to the public space. First, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić told the “Finacial Times” in June that the new guarantees of the company and the European Union responded to concerns about environmental standards, and that the mine could be opened in 2028.
The current Speaker of the Serbian Parliament, Ana Brnabić, then stated that it would be “abnormal” if Serbia renounced lithium mining and that the country has strict and high environmental protection standards, writes Radio Free Europe.
