Thousands of people in Belgrade and other Serbian towns blocked main roads and bridges over the weekend for hours in anti-government protests, targeting two new laws that environmentalists say will let foreign companies take advantage of local resources.
The demonstrators protested against Rio Tinto鈥檚 Jadar lithium project and Zijin Mining鈥檚 recently opened Cukaru Peki聽copper and gold mine, which they claim will pollute land and water in the Balkan nation.
Holding banners that read: 鈥淪top investors, save nature, we are not giving up on nature in Serbia,鈥� and聽chanting 鈥淩io Tinto get away from the Drina river鈥�, the protests were mirrored abroad. Activists gathered in Berlin, New York and at Rio Tinto鈥檚 headquarters in London.
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic shared a photograph of the protest on Instagram and commented 鈥渃lean air, water and food are keys to health.鈥�
鈥淲ithout that, every word about 鈥榟ealth鈥� is obsolete,鈥� Djokovic wrote.
Ljudi 鉂わ笍
鈥� Kristina ? (@kris_urosevic)
Gazela
Jadar, discovered by Rio Tinto geologists in 2004, is one of the largest greenfield lithium projects currently in development. It has the potential to produce about 58,000 tonnes of battery grade lithium carbonate per year.
The world鈥檚 second-largest miner, which greenlighted the project聽, has repeatedly warned of an imminent and聽鈥渟ignificant鈥� supply gap for lithium,聽as聽demand聽for the metal used in聽electric vehicles聽(EV)聽and green technologies聽continues to soar.聽
Rio Tinto estimates聽that committed supply and capacity expansions will contribute about 15% to demand growth over the 2020-2050 period. The remaining 85% would need to come from new projects.聽
To put the situation in perspective, the miner鈥檚 head of economics聽Vivek Tulpule聽said in October that filling the聽supply gap will require more than 60聽Jadar聽projects.
Rio鈥檚 project, located聽in western Serbia,聽would produce enough lithium to power one million EVs. It will also produce boric acid, used in ceramics and batteries, and sodium sulphate, used in detergents.聽
Sourcing Europe
Mine construction is expected to begin early next year, subject to environmental approvals, with the first production in 2026.聽
Once in operations, Jadar mine would supply mainly the European market, one of the world鈥檚 largest growing EV聽markets.
Following ramp up to full production in 2029, the聽mine would produce 58,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, 160,000 tonnes of boric acid and 255,000 tonnes of sodium sulphate a year.聽
In only three years, British car makers will have to source local electric car batteries as set by the Brexit free trade deal inked in 2020.
Under the agreement, all European trade in cars and parts will continue to be free of tariffs or quotas after the Brexit transition period ended on December 31, as long as they contain enough content from either UK or EU factories.
Batteries will at first be allowed to have up to 70% of materials from countries outside the EU. From 2024 onwards, that requirement will tighten to 50%.
The EU is currently constructing聽large-scale battery cell factories. European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic has said that by 2025, the planned facilities would produce cells to power at last six million electric vehicles.
Battery metals ambitions
Over the past five years, the miner has聽tried to expand its footprint聽in聽the battery market.聽In 2018, Rio reportedly聽, the world鈥檚 second largest lithium producer.聽
In April this year, it聽kicked off lithium production聽from waste rock聽at a聽demonstration聽plant located at a聽borates聽mine it controls in California.聽
Rio invested $10 million to build the pilot plant that will be able to produce 10 tonnes a year of lithium-carbonate. By the end of the year, and based on the trial鈥檚 results, it will decide聽whether or not聽to spend a further $50 million in an industrial-scale plant with annual capacity of 5,000 tonnes a year 鈥� enough for around 15,000 Tesla Model S batteries.聽
The projected production would be roughly the same as the capacity of Albemarle聽鈥檚 Silver Peak mine in Nevada, which is currently the only lithium-carbonate producing asset in the country, according to the US Geological Survey.聽
Serbia鈥檚 government anticipates the country鈥檚 booming mining sector will start generating between 4% and 5% of its total GDP in less than 10 years, a significant increase from its current 2%.聽
(With files from Reuters)