Serbia: Rio Tinto's lithium mine sparks protests over environmental & health concerns
'Like someone cutting off your arms and legs': Rio Tinto's lithium mine sparks anger in Serbia, 1 December 2021
...Rio Tinto's $2.4 billion plan is to "make Serbia a major global producer" of the soft, silvery metal that fuels much of the world's growing fleet of electric vehicles. In 2004, local subsidiary Rio Sava discovered lithium in a new mineral that has since been named "jadarite" after the region.
Rio Tinto still hasn't published an environmental impact study for Serbian authorities or the Serbian public to scrutinize, although it hopes to start building the mine next year and have it operational by 2026...
Around 330 more plots of land need to be purchased from their owners to make room for the sprawling, 250-hectare underground mining complex...
Out of desperation and along with at least 10,000 other residents allied under an association called Loznica Against Rio Tinto, Zlatko Kokanovic (local resident) has turned to activism to fight the project...
Then last month, intense protests over the potential fallout for Serbians from such foreign-backed industrial projects spread to the capital, too...
Protesters cited fears of life in an "occupied" country, alongside signs like, "You're Suffocating Us," and references to the "dangerous air" that ranks Serbia among the most polluted places in Europe...
Experts attribute the country's pollution problems to a heavy dependance on dirty coal, which spews particulate matter in addition to sulfur dioxide, for its thermal power plants, lax regulations, and an explosion in the number of vehicles, among other things...
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has explicitly dismissed any link between Rio Tinto's plans and the new legislation on referendums and expropriation...