Why lithium mining has Serbians up in arms

About 30,000 Serbians marched through Belgrade over the weekend to protest against a massive lithium mining project, in scenes reminiscent of the widespread public fury that stalled the scheme two years ago.

Last month Serbia restored Rio Tinto‘s licence to extract lithium in the western Jadar Valley, one of Europe’s largest reserves of the crucial mineral – and a “perennial political fault line in the Balkan country”, said The Guardian. The Anglo-Australian consortium plans to open a massive lithium mine as Europe scrambles to secure access to the “white gold” that powers electric car batteries, and so reduce its reliance on Chinese supplies.

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In 2020, the deadlock began to shift when the Serbian government approved an environmental impact assessment for a planned lithium mine. Mass protests broke out in 2022 – this time, not just among environmentalists. Many demonstrators were “new to protesting”, said the BBC. “All of them were alarmed that a foreign company had gained mining rights through a process they felt had not been transparent.”

But according to the US Geological Survey, Germany is sitting on 3.8 million tonnes of lithium – more than three times the known reserves in Serbia. The EU’s focus on Serbia raises “interesting questions about assumptions regarding public acceptance of lithium mining too close to home”, said Euronews. Public opposition has also “stymied” plans to ramp up lithium production in Portugal, the EU’s only other “significant producer” of lithium.

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