Is Serbia Obliged to Rio Tinto? – Contradictory Statements from Government Confuse Public

In the past days, contradictory statements regarding the Jadar project which is supposed to be realized by Rio Tinto, have been coming from the Government of Serbia.

On Tuesday, the prime minister, Ana Brnabic, stated that, according to the Law on Mining and Energy, Serbia has no possibility to stop the British-Australian company from exploiting lithium.

According to her, Serbia has obliged to have this project carried through to the end. If the state decides to stop the construction of a mine near Loznica, an international arbitration will take place, regardless of the results of the announced referendum, the prime minister announced.

However, the minister of mining and energy, Zorana Mihajlovic, stated today that the relation between the state and Rio Tinto was not binding.

– There is no contract of the state with Rio Tinto, and all the data on the operations of the Ministry of Mining and Energy are publicly available. There are no rights for lithium exploitation, as we’ve been able to hear. Everything is public, there are no contracts. I can’t present something that doesn’t exist. What does exist is the study on the reserves of lithium, because it is important for us to know how much lithium we have, as it is a critical mineral in the world. There is the Memorandum of Understanding from 2017, which is not binding. There is no contract between the government and Rio Tinto – Mihajlovic said on TV Insajder, as reported by Tanjug.

She added that, as a minister, she would not allow the beginning of the construction of a lithium mine before the environmental impact study is done, which will show that the project will not pollute the Jadar valley, according to her.

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Rio Sava Exploration d.o.o. Beograd

Rio Tinto Exploration Dunav d.o.o. Beograd

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Rio Tinto

Zorana Mihajlović

Ana Brnabić

Jadar Project

lithium

mining

environmental protection