Demonstrators protest against the Serbian lithium mine
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in western Serbia to protest the opening of a controversial lithium mining project that has been halted for years amid protests over environmental fears.
The rally comes after President Aleksandar Vucic told The Financial Times this month that Serbia could start mining lithium as early as 2028, following new guarantees from Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto.
The future of the vast mineral deposits to be mined by Rio Tinto near Loznica remains a perennial political fault line in the Balkan country.
It puts a festering distrust in the Serbian government towards European plans for a greener future.
Opposition politicians were among those at the protest, which was organized by an alliance of environmental groups.
“We have come to free ourselves,” said one protester, 44-year-old mechanic Petar Cergic.
“I believe the groundwater will be contaminated. I don’t have to listen to anyone, not a scientist: none of the mining here is ecological, so this is not possible.”
Another protester, 70-year-old Ljubinka Spasic, denounced the mining project as a “deprivation of the right to life and existence.
“This has crossed every line of destruction and danger for Serbia and the Serbian people.”
– Fear for public health –
Billions of euros are at stake, with Rio Tinto saying this would create thousands of jobs and secure Serbia’s position in emerging energy markets.
The company said the area contains one of Europe’s largest reserves of lithium, a strategically valuable metal crucial for the production of batteries for electric vehicles.
The deposits were discovered in 2004, but the Serbian government halted the mining project in 2022 after weeks of protests fueled by environmental and public health fears.
“We demand that a final decision be made and that the project be ended,” one activist, Zlatko Kokanovic, told AFP as demonstrators began gathering in the area near Loznica for the evening rally.
The project “would literally leave us without good quality drinking water, which would lead to air pollution and of course soil pollution,” he added.
Vucic said the mine was expected to produce 58,000 tonnes of lithium per year, enough to power 1.1 million vehicles or 17 percent of European electric vehicle production.
Opponents have accused both Vucic and Rio Tinto of not being transparent about the process.
The mining giant recently published an environmental impact statement to address concerns and said the company would rely on “safe, reliable and proven technology”.
Among the demonstrators were about thirty activists who had arrived on foot from Belgrade, more than 100 kilometers away.
“We wanted to show them our determination by coming from Belgrade on foot to the protest in Loznica,” said Ivan Bjelic, an activist with the Mars sa Drine movement.
He said both the company and Serbia would “think carefully about what they will do – and what we will do if they plan to bring machines to Loznica… or a surrounding village,” he added.
