Belgrade weekly Vreme reported on Thursday that the Rio Tinto Company drafted an environmental impact study which was never submitted to the authorities.
The weekly reported it had access to the study which details the possible hazards of the mine the company wanted to open and how it intended to deal with them.
The study listed a number of negative effects on the environment, adding that the company’s experience showed that “economic-social effects” on the population are the only benefits and that not everyone was satisfied with those benefits.
The study says that the best way to get water for the mine is from the Drina River with wastewaters released into the Jadar River after being processed. The planned water collection system will be required for years after the mine is closed and possibly permanently, the study noted.
The document also mentioned that large amounts of waste would be excavated in 2023 and the first quantities of ore would be extracted in 2025. A graph shows the mine operating for 60 years.
The Rio Tinto document was drafted before the company said in January that it was postponing commercial production for 2027 because the exploitation permits were late.
(Nova, 16.02.2022)
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