By Emilija Rozgić
For a long time, the Serbian people have been opposing one of the most controversial mining–industrial projects in contemporary Serbian history.
According to numerous analyses, the project is technically and environmentally uncertain, economically disadvantageous for the country, socially and legally unacceptable, and a source of incalculable risks to human health and natural resources.
Presentation of the monograph “Jadar Project: the lithium and boron catastrophe”
On 29 January, the monograph “Jadar Project: the lithium and boron catastrophe” (“Projekat Jadar: Litijumsko-borna katastrofa”) was presented. It was published by the Akademska knjiga publishing house and produced by more than twenty authors, including university professors and experts from various fields. The work offers the most detailed professional analysis to date of the planned mining project in the Jadar Valley.
Presentation of the monograph “Jadar Project: the lithium and boron catastrophe”
The contributions collected in the monograph allow the general public to assess more consciously whether, in the specific context of the Jadar Valley, it is possible to carry out ecologically sustainable mining activity under current conditions and whether, as the project’s promoters claim, it can be conducted without causing damage to the environment.
Some of the authors and editors of the work spoke at the presentation: Vera Dondur (editor and author), Zoran Stevanović (author, geologist), Radmilo V. Pešić (editor and author), Melita Kosanović (author) and Sreten Đorđević (author, lawyer).
The aim of the publication is to present systematically the complexity and the full range of aspects related to the project for the extraction and processing of the mineral jadarite that the company Rio Tinto intends to implement in the Jadar area. Based on national and international sources, the analysis examines the chemical, technological, biological, toxicological, hydrological, meteorological, legal, economic, social and international effects that the implementation of the Jadar Project could have on ecosystems, human health and the Serbian economy.
The firm support of the authorities for the project has been expressed through adjustments to the regulatory framework, the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Republic of Serbia and the European Commission, as well as support for the project’s candidacy as a strategic project of the European Union, together with a series of other initiatives. At one point, the Government even decided to place the resources of several ministries at the service of the project and the company.
Professor Dondur also stresses that it has never happened anywhere in the world that a company has been allowed to independently define fundamental aspects such as the mine and production process parameters, the quantities of mineral to be extracted and the duration of extraction activities, carrying out a series of actions exclusively in its own interest.
Just a mining project, or something more?
The massive protest against the Jadar Project held in Belgrade on 10 August 2024
The central point, according to Professor Dondur, is that the state authorities continue to present the Jadar Project as a simple mining project. However, it goes far beyond this definition. If it were merely a lithium and boron mine, it would produce a raw mineral with no market, as there are no entities in the country capable of purchasing and processing it. Even if the mineral were processed into a concentrate with a higher percentage of lithium and boron, this product could not be marketed, since there are no plants in the world capable of treating it. Consequently, the project necessarily implies not only extraction, but also processing and the industrial production of lithium and boron chemical compounds.
Lithium represents the most economically significant component of the mineral, as it is more expensive than boron and therefore determines overall production capacity. The company plans a production of 58,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, which is only a basic raw material for the manufacture of materials intended for lithium batteries, far removed from the batteries themselves and their application in electric vehicles. The quantity of boron that would have to be produced to obtain this volume of lithium carbonate is five times greater than that of lithium, thus generating a by-product in enormous quantities, in an already heavily saturated market with no real demand.
The role of the European Union
The European Commission has declared the project to be of strategic importance, while classifying it exclusively as a mining project, a circumstance that raises numerous questions and critical issues.
Despite protests from the Serbian academic community, which urged the EU Delegation not to include the project in the list of so-called non-EU strategic projects, the European Union nevertheless adopted this decision, even in the absence of the fundamental requirements laid down in the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA).
The territorial context of the project
The deposit is located in the Jadar River basin, in an area particularly rich in water resources. The complex would occupy around 400 hectares for surface mining infrastructure, processing plants, chemical facilities and inert waste dumps. The underground mine, described by the authorities and by Rio Tinto as a “green mine”, would extend over approximately 840 hectares underground, with the possibility of further expansion.
The entire system involves 22 villages, where the population mainly lives from agriculture, cultivates the land and resides in an area partly covered by woodland. The distance between the industrial complex and the inert waste dumps is about 14 kilometres, affecting an overall area of approximately 290 square kilometres.
Supporters of the project claim that there will be no consequences outside this area. According to Vera Dondur, this is unrealistic, as the complex will not be hermetically sealed from the surrounding environment.
Environmental impact
Lithium and boron are the elements on which the entire project is based. Although relevant for certain industrial applications, they are extremely harmful to the environment. Such production activity would generate enormous quantities of waste material and other residues, as it would require the massive use of chemicals – primarily sulphuric acid – as well as large amounts of electricity and other forms of energy, thus giving rise to a vast mining–industrial complex.
Melita Kosanović, one of the authors, presented the part of the monograph dedicated to plants and animals and the consequences that this project would have on ecosystems. She recalled that boron and lithium, once released into the environment, cannot be easily removed because of their chemical properties. Studies on plant and animal species in the Jadar area, conducted by experts from the Faculty of Biology and related institutions, indicate the presence of around 500 plant species and subspecies, some protected by national legislation and others by international conventions. Research has also highlighted the presence of various categories of fauna – insects, butterflies, beetles, aquatic species – and that in each of these there are protected or strictly protected species.
The conclusions indicate that the consequences of activities related to the exploitation of jadarite would be irreversible, leading to the complete destruction of habitats and the ecosystem. Any reversible consequences would be those linked to contamination, which would nevertheless result in a significant reduction in biodiversity in the area.
Drastic effects would also affect agricultural crops – cereals, arable and fruit crops – due to increased concentrations of lithium and boron in soil and water. Irrigation even with low concentrations of boron in water, because of the cumulative effect, could cause toxic effects on plants. In this way, toxic elements would enter the food chain through animals and ultimately reach humans.
Kosanović also recalled that in 2021 the Risk Assessment Committee of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) classified three lithium compounds – lithium carbonate, lithium chloride and lithium hydroxide – as toxic for reproduction, in category 1A, that is, on the basis of scientific evidence relating to humans. Harmful effects would concern fertility, fetal development and sexual function. Furthermore, in 2008 the European Commission classified certain boron compounds – in particular boric acid and sodium borate – as toxic for reproduction in category 1B, indicating that the data derive from animal studies but are considered relevant to humans as well. In this case too, it is reproductive toxicity.
The conclusion of the authors of this part of the monograph is that the most effective measure for the protection of biodiversity consists in suspending the implementation of the project and abandoning it definitively.
The economic effects of the project
Radmilo Pešić, retired full professor at the Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade, presenting the part of the monograph dedicated to the economic effects of the project, highlighted the following main points:
- According to projections by Rio Tinto, the Serbian state would receive negligible revenue from the project: a total of 17.4 million euros per year, equivalent to 2.6 euros per capita per year.
- For Rio Tinto’s needs, the Republic of Serbia would independently finance the entire necessary infrastructure, estimated at several hundred million euros (roads, railway, gas pipeline, power grid). In addition, the Republic of Serbia would not hold any ownership stake in the project.
- Rio Tinto would have full disposal of the extracted lithium and boron. Even in the event of a 20 per cent equity participation by Serbia in the project, revenues would remain limited (27 million euros per year, or 4.1 euros per capita).
- In the event of an environmental disaster (floods, leakage of mining waste, etc.), Serbia would have to bear substantial remediation costs, potentially amounting to hundreds of millions of euros and, according to some estimates, even several billion. These burdens would fall entirely on the state, as the project does not provide for any guarantee fund.
- The Government of Serbia had also planned to grant 419 million euros in subsidies for the construction of an electric battery factory to the Slovak company InoBat, little known and lacking experience in large-scale industrial battery production. It should also be recalled that Rio Tinto is among InoBat’s shareholders.
Overall, what is outlined in this section highlights an outcome that is strongly favourable to the company and extremely limited benefits for Serbia, both in terms of profit tax and mining royalties – which are particularly modest, as well as wages, which could in any case largely concern foreign labour.
In the best-case scenario, over 40 years of operation, Serbia would collect 696 million euros at current values. However, when infrastructure costs are included in the calculation, the Jadar Project would generate no financial benefit for the country, since the expenditure required to build the infrastructure would in all likelihood exceed these hypothetical 696 million euros.
Pešić emphasises that these analyses were carried out at a time when the price of lithium carbonate on the global market was 15.6 dollars per kilogram. Since 2023, the price has been falling; in 2025, it entered a phase of stagnation and further decline, dropping in some markets to around 8 dollars per kilogram. From a peak of 80 dollars per kilogram, there has therefore been a significant collapse. At present, a slight price recovery can be observed between the end of last year and the beginning of the current one, mainly linked to demand for military purposes, especially in Asia, but with no realistic prospects of returning to previous levels.
All these analyses do not include environmental costs, damage to ecosystems, or the expenses associated with water and air purification. They also do not include the costs related to greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting cross-border carbon tax, which was not yet in force at the time the study was drafted but is now fully relevant.
In the light of all these elements, the conclusion is that the project would not only bring no benefits to the Republic of Serbia and its citizens, but would entail only losses.
The role of laws in the implementation of the project
The evolution of the regulatory framework in the fields of geology and the mining industry, as well as in environmental protection, property rights and expropriation, was discussed by the lawyer Sreten Đorđević. In his words: “Since 2011, there has been a deliberately planned process of amending mining legislation and related legal areas, aimed at enabling extraction projects. One can clearly identify legislative provisions that could be described as targeted, designed to ensure a more favourable position for mining companies in administrative proceedings, including Rio Tinto.”
Đorđević believes that “the simple application of the legislation in force in Serbia would have been sufficient for this company, from the moment it arrived in the country in 2003/2004 and applied for geological exploration permits, not even to be able to obtain permission to carry out the first drilling”.
Concerning the adoption of the new Environmental Impact Assessment Act and the Strategic Environmental Assessment Act of 2024, passed during a parliamentary session marked by serious disorder and physical clashes, without debate or the submission of amendments, he stresses that the texts subsequently published in the Official Gazette differed from the bill originally presented to Parliament, on which no amendments had been formally proposed. In his view, this would constitute a violation of the constitutional order: a legislative text introduced into the parliamentary procedure without objections or changes by MPs is then published in an altered version.
A systematic failure to comply with the law on the protection of cultivable agricultural land was also highlighted. An analysis of the provisions of this law shows that applied geological exploration, except for that relating to non-metallic resources, is prohibited; this implies that Rio Tinto would not have been able to obtain any authorisations for the individual cadastral parcels included in the Jadar Project area.
Đorđević also referred to a section of the monograph by Aleksandar Matković (researcher at the Institute of Economic Sciences in Belgrade), devoted to the development of neo-colonial economies. Matković asks how such a model is implemented today. The answer, according to the author, is simple: by replacing the concept of “coloniser” with that of “foreign investor”. The development of such a neo-colonial economy presupposes cooperative authorities and a rapid modification of the regulatory framework. This process of legislative transformation is described as a “mutation of the legal system”. According to the author, this is what has happened in Serbia over recent decades: a mutation and degeneration of the legal order that has produced a dual system of the rule of law – one law for multinationals and another for citizens.
What do the people in Serbia say?
Public opinion in Serbia regarding the project to open a lithium mine in the Jadar Valley was analysed by the political scientist Đorđe Vukadinović. His conclusion is that the trend of a gradual shift in public opinion against the Jadar Project now appears essentially irreversible. At the time the study was drafted, 19 per cent of Serbian citizens declared themselves in favour of the project, while 63.5 per cent expressed opposition.
More than 120 protests organised by citizens have taken place against the implementation of the project, with the participation of tens of thousands of people. Thousands of citizens have signed petitions, providing their first name, surname and personal identification number. 
According to Sreten Đorđević, multinational corporations do not fear regimes, they do not fear authorities, they do not fear poverty; they fear organised people. “As long as the people remain organised and take a mass stand against the project, Rio Tinto’s chances will be minimal,” he states.
Rio Tinto’s withdrawal: real or only apparent?
Sreten Đorđević believes that Rio Tinto has only temporarily withdrawn from the project on the ground, while waiting for amendments to the mining and geological exploration law. “In November, the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and in particular the Ministry of Mining, presented the basis for drafting a new mining law. In 2021, the entire mining industry and the project’s lobbyists claimed that this was one of the best laws in the world, whereas today they feel the need to draft a new one. The preliminary documents state that the new law is being drafted to be fully aligned with the European regulation on critical raw materials. The key point of this European regulation concerns the fact that every mining project, particularly those with the status of a strategic project, is subject to the provisions of the regulation itself. When a project is declared to be of the highest national interest, this excludes any comparative assessment of interests. There is no need to weigh whether it is more important to protect nature, health or the environment if the law establishes that the mining project is of the highest national interest. In my view, this represents the greatest threat to the Republic of Serbia: the possibility of harmonising the mining law with the European directive. If this happens, we can forget about public participation in the process of granting mining permits and the possibility for science to influence the process by highlighting the importance of protecting the environment, nature and public health.”
Interview with Zlatko Kokanović, environmental activist from the association “We will not give up Jadar” (“Ne damo Jadar”)
Zlatko Kokanović, photo credit: Marko Dragoslavić/FoNet
Zlatko is a farmer, livestock breeder and veterinarian from Gornje Nedeljice. He is also the father of four daughters and one son. When the company Rio Tinto announced its intention to exploit lithium precisely in this area of Serbia, Zlatko had no doubts. A potential environmental catastrophe, the transformation of agricultural land into mines and the construction of waste dumps on fertile soil: all this is unacceptable to Zlatko and many local residents, for the simple reason that without the land there is no meaning to life.
How did you feel at the beginning of all this?
At the beginning everything was shrouded in secrecy. Only when we began to investigate the project and when the urban development plan was published did we understand what problems awaited us. We were all astonished.
What is your relationship with the state, with the authorities? Are you disappointed?
I am not specifically disappointed with the state, I cannot say that, but the system of Aleksandar Vučić tries to take everything. Above all, I am disappointed with the institutions, which are not independent and have fallen under the control of Aleksandar Vučić’s power.
Have you ever been part of the governing party or the opposition?
I have never been a member of any party. I am an ordinary man, a livestock breeder, and I am only interested in the good of this land and of these people.
Has anyone from Rio Tinto ever contacted you?
Yes, I was contacted by Rio Tinto’s lawyer, who asked me whether I wanted to sell my property. I refused, and no one has asked me to sell the land since.
Have you ever been arrested? For what reason?
I was summoned for informational interviews at the BIA, when a surveillance device was installed on my phone without my knowledge. I was taken away several times during the protests and charged with offences such as assaulting a public official, endangering traffic with dangerous actions or instruments…
Have you ever thought, at any point, of giving up?
Absolutely not, I have no intention of giving up. This battle continues. I stand with the students and we will continue until the end.