"Serbia has lived without lithium and until now, this country will continue to live without lithium," said the dean of the Faculty of Mining and Geology in Belgrade, Aleksandar Cvjetić.
It seems that Jörg Heskens, the man who has been an advisor to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for 13 years, is the only German official who advises a foreign statesman on economic issues.
"BIRN's revelation that Vučić implemented Germany's lithium mining plan clearly shows that Vučić is an agent of foreign influence in Serbia," says Savo Manojlović
Across western Serbia, hundreds of exploratory wells for lithium and boron reflect a growing wave of foreign direct investment in mining and resource exploitation. This is, among other things, the theme of the meeting "Common spaces: A meeting for a future without extractivism"
Jörg Heskens supported the "Jadar" project, even when individuals from the German embassy in Belgrade pointed out that Germany should not force it due to the opposition of citizens, BIRN writes.
Expropriation is coming to Gornje Nedeljice with the machines this time, according to the locals. Everything indicates that the gas pipeline that was previously planned together with the lithium mine is being built. And if there are no mines, why is a gas pipeline being built?
"If the legal framework were stabilized, I would say that Rio Tinto would definitely respect environmental and social standards," said Hildegard Bentele, representative of the European Parliament for critical raw materials from the Christian Democratic Union, about lithium mining in Serbia.
The team of the "March from the Drina" association announced that the Commission currently recognizes a strategic project that no longer exists in an operational sense and that keeping it on the list is indefensible under EU law
Mining giant Rio Tinto has suspended activities on a lithium mining project in the Yadar River Valley, according to Bloomberg, citing an internal company memo. The project, which for years caused resistance from the local community and environmental movements, was placed under the status of "care and maintenance"
The European Commission made a decision to include the "Jadar" project in projects of strategic importance. What reactions have been received so far? What does the government say, what does the profession say, and what do the activists say? And how many citizens of Serbia oppose this project
The status of the strategic project requires compliance with EU standards for environmental protection and human rights, which will be reflected in the final capital cost
"The claims of certain media and parties that Serbia will be a European colony for mining turned out to be incorrect," says the President of the Serbian Parliament, Ana Brnabić.
The European Commission's decision to include the "Jadar" project among the EU's strategic projects is "proof that it is a bunch of hypocrites, actually greedy people, who have been supporting Aleksandar Vučić all these twelve years," the president of the Ecological Uprising, Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, told Vreme.
Out of a total of 49 projects outside the member states of the European Union registered for the status of a project of strategic importance, the EU opted for thirteen - among them the "Jadar" project of Rio Tinta
In a short period of time, the government tried three different strategies on the issue of lithium, ranging from aggressive imposition to quietly sidestepping the issue, and the epilogue was the same each time - a further decline in support for the lithium mining project in Serbia. Practically, the political, demographic and social corps of the ruling party (that is, the coalition) represents the only remaining stronghold and bastion of the lithium mining project. But even there, there is a noticeable degree of vacillation and shedding
"In Serbia, we have old thermal power plants, whose lifespan is slowly running out. Blocks A1 and A2 of the thermal power plant in Obrenovac will have to be closed one day, because they are old and there are more and more problems with them," says international energy expert Ivan Kokeza
A hundred Serbian professors from Western universities demand that the EU get rid of the "Jadar" project and warn of unforeseeable consequences
Among the 47 strategic projects for strengthening the capacity of strategic critical raw materials of the European Union, there is no "Jadar" project, nor any other project from Serbia
In a video that was published on social networks, one of the people who broke into the municipality addressed the people they found in that hall, saying that those who were in the municipality building "locked the door, and this is our house."
The Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) reveals that the experts of the Institute for Nature Protection were against the conditions that this institution issued to Rio Tinto. "...There are no conditions that will prevent the irreversible destruction of this area (at the locations of the exploitation field and the landfill) as well as the habitats of numerous species", it was written in one of the emails obtained by CINS.
The Jadra Valley, once synonymous with rural idyll, is now at the center of conflict over one of the largest lithium deposits in the world. While the company Rio Tinto promises ecologically sustainable exploitation, a strange alliance of environmentalists and nationalists organizes resistance, writes the German newspaper "Spiegel".
Following new investments in Argentina, Rio Tinto is on track to become the world's third largest lithium producer. The company is also counting on its Jadar project in Serbia to meet most of Europe's lithium needs
In addition to the vast knowledge and skills that he perfectly commands, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić also learned a lot about the history of mining in Germany on Tuesday.
The entire administration of the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Niš resigned during the morning. The departure of the administration of this Niš faculty comes a few days after the PMF took an official position that it does not agree with the Jadar project
The planned protest in Valjevo against Eurolithium turned into giving mail to the victims in Novi Sad, and announcing the liberation of Serbia.
The opposition in Serbia submitted a request to the Constitutional Court, asking for an assessment of the constitutionality of the Government's decree that enables the continuation of the "Jadar" project. During the handover, some deputies were pushed with members of the Constitutional Court's security
By groundlessly reducing the "Jadar" enterprise to a mine, the fact is overlooked that the only reason it is being discussed may be the profit from the expected production in the field of electrical engineering. Depriving electrical technicians of the right to reason about it narrows the possibility of a conscientious and comprehensive check and increases the risk
