Another fault line has opened in the mining wars.\u00a0 In Serbia, resistance is gathering steam against various deals made between Belgrade and companies that risk environmental degradation and lingering spoliation.<\/p>\n
In this regard, the globe\u2019s second largest metals and mining corporation, features prominently.\u00a0 Rio Tinto, bruised in reputation but determined in business, finds itself in a hunting mood in the Balkans, hoping to establish a lithium mine and processing plant in the valley of Jadar.<\/p>\n
As the infamous destroyer of the Juukan Gorge Caves outlines in a statement<\/a>, the Jadar site is intended to \u201cproduce battery-grade lithium carbonate, a critical mineral used in large scale batteries for electric vehicles and storing renewable energy\u201d.\u00a0 This greening shift \u2013 because all canny mining entities are doing it \u2013 \u00a0promises to \u201cposition Rio Tinto as the largest source of lithium supply in Europe for at least the next 15 years.\u201d\u00a0 In an effort to make matters sound even more impressive, Jadar will also \u201cproduce borates, which are used in solar panels and wind turbines.\u201d<\/p>\n The company has been extensively involved in cultivating relations with the government of Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107.\u00a0 As far back as 2018, Prime Minister Ana Brnabi\u0107 was already convinced<\/a> what the future lithium borate project might hold.\u00a0 \u201cAs Jadar can significantly influence the development of the whole region, the government has established an inter-ministerial working group to cooperate with the investor on all aspects of the project.\u201d\u00a0 Capitulation, rather than cooperation, would be the more accurate description.<\/p>\n How the Anglo-Australian mining giant finds itself in this position has been troubling to local activists and the citizenry of Jadar for years.\u00a0 The Ne damo Jadar<\/em> (We won\u2019t let anyone take Jadar) group is particularly concerned by the clandestine memoranda of understanding signed between the company and the Serbian government.\u00a0 Zlatko Kokanovi\u0107, vice president of the group, states the position<\/a> with irrefutable clarity.\u00a0 \u201cRio Tinto\u2019s proposed jadarite mine will not only threaten one of Serbia\u2019s oldest and most important archaeological sites, it will also endanger several protected bird species, pond terrapins, and fire salamander, which would otherwise be protected by EU directives.\u201d<\/p>\n An online petition<\/a> against the mine, which has garnered 283,364 signatures to date, also notes the risk posed to \u201cthousands of sustainable multi-generational farms\u201d through the poisoning of water sources.\u00a0 This was bound to occur given generous use of sulphuric acid in separating the lithium from the jadarite ore.<\/p>\n Rio has countered this by vague promises that it will conduct sound environmental assessments and neutralise any risks arising from sulfuric acid, arsenic and the inevitable tailings that will follow.\u00a0 In the words<\/a> of the CEO Jakob Stausholm, \u201cWe are committed to upholding the highest environmental standards and building sustainable futures for the communities where we operate.\u201d\u00a0 Stausholm promised, \u201cthat in progressing this project, we must listen to and respect the views of all stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n Ever since Rio Tinto began sniffing around in Serbia, evidence of such listening and respect has been in short supply.\u00a0 Requests and concerns by locals go unaddressed.\u00a0 Its use of private security goons has also been a point of some nastiness. Marijana Petkovi\u0107, a member of Ne damo Jadar<\/em>, insists that they have been harassing and conducting surveillance of villages which are proximate to the mine.\u00a0 One has to keep the local tribes in check.<\/p>\n In June, the company claimed<\/a> that the security contractors were \u201cengaged to carry out activities in full compliance with the Law on Private Security, which provides for both the way of securing private property and moving at a certain time between several mutually separated places\/facilities\u201d.<\/p>\n The company also countered with its own claims that, as a law-abiding entity, it has been unjustly attacked by fractious thugs intent on disrupting the prospects for local improvement.\u00a0 After a protest that same month, Rio Tinto stated<\/a> that \u201cemployees working on the Jadar project were examined for injuries at the Loznica Emergency Centre, where they were provided with assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n Serbian lawmakers have certainly been facing a mouthful<\/a> from the Alliance of Environmental Organisations of Serbia (SEOS) and the Kreni-promeni<\/em> organisation.\u00a0 The latter has produced a video to counter Rio Tinto\u2019s own glossy narrative of the lithium project which has saturated much of the media.\u00a0 Hearty efforts by Kreni-promeni<\/em> to convince the Serbian public broadcaster RTS to broadcast its rebuttals have so far failed.<\/p>\n The eternally calculating Vu\u010di\u0107 has decided to put the issue of Rio Tinto\u2019s lithium mining effort to a referendum, enabling the mining giant to further step up its campaign to convince voters.\u00a0\u00a0 The protestors are in no doubt that the measure is designed to secure approval in order to outmanoeuvre the contrarians.<\/p>\n A large protest movement is taking shape in Serbia, centred on the importance of clean water, air, soil and observance of sound environmental regulations.\u00a0 The month of November saw protesting efforts that involved blocking roads in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, U\u017eice, Loznica and Kru\u0161evac, amongst others.<\/p>\n Rio Tinto, environmental vandal par excellence, has shown, along with other mining giants, a marked tendency to ignore local grievances and fears while flattering gullible authorities with promises of a glittering future.\u00a0 The future for the Jadar valley, outlined by one sceptical ecologist, Mirjana Luki\u0107 An\u0111elkovi\u0107 is suitably dark.\u00a0 The company, she told<\/a> the morning program TV Nova S \u201cWake Up\u201d in March this year, promises to mine for six decades and \u201cmake a mountain of tailings.\u201d\u00a0 Where there are tailings, \u201cthere is no grass, nothing grows.\u201d<\/p>The post Where there are Tailings, No Grass Grows: Serbians Protest against Rio Tinto<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another fault line has opened in the mining wars.\u00a0 In Serbia, resistance is gathering steam against various deals made between Belgrade and companies that risk environmental degradation and lingering spoliation. In this regard, the globe\u2019s second largest metals and mining corporation, features prominently.\u00a0 Rio Tinto, bruised in reputation but determined in business, finds itself in [\u2026]<\/p>\n The post Where there are Tailings, No Grass Grows: Serbians Protest against Rio Tinto<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[393,16614,635,9264,75],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413418"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415226,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413418\/revisions\/415226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}