Local authorities in western Serbia have suspended a plan that would allow the mining company Rio Tinto to operate a lithium mine, after protests by environmentalists that shook the country’s populist leadership. “Whether there will be a mine depends on people [in western Serbia] and the study on environmental impact assessment,” said the prime minister, Ana Brnabić. The Jadar valley where Rio Tinto plans to build a mine, near Loznica. Although Rio Tinto said it would adhere to all the latest environmental protection standards, organisers of the weekend protests said the lithium excavation could inflict lasting ecological damage to rivers and farmland in the region. Now that the lithium mine plans are on hold, Vučić said earlier this week that from now on “we will have to speak in a different way to Rio Tinto and others”.

Source: The Guardian December 17, 2021 00:19 UTC