In August last year, the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia issued conditions to Rio Tinto for the Jadar project, outlining what needed to be protected in the area and how this should be done. However, CINS obtained emails and other documents revealing that some experts opposed these conditions, arguing that they would not adequately protect the environment. The Acting Director ignored their objections and issued the conditions without making any changes, not even correcting typographical errors.
In the Palace of Serbia, numerous journalist crews were taking their places, and cameramen were trying to find the best angle for their shots. A joint press conference of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Vice-President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić was about to begin.
It was July 2024.
The evening before the conference, Scholz made an unexpected visit to Serbia, for one sole purpose – lithium. After civil protests were brought to a halt, the government had reopened the project of opening a lithium mine in western Serbia. The Jadar project has drawn the interest not only of the investor, the company Rio Tinto, but also of Germany and the European Union. Germany is the largest producer of electric cars in the EU and uses lithium-ion batteries in their production, while the EU wants to reduce its dependency on China, one of the largest lithium producers in the world.
The mine’s potential opening, however, has been met with huge protests in Serbia – some of the largest in recent years.
During the conference, Vučić stated that lithium offered enormous hope for Serbia and that the country would not miss this opportunity.
“If human lives and the environment are not fully protected, there will be no lithium mining in Western Serbia, in the vicinity of Loznica,” Vučić said.
However, documents obtained by the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) indicate that the conditions for environmental protection were established in a way that harms the environment, and these documents were also altered and adopted without the consent of some experts.
In fact, the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia issued conditions to Rio Tinto for the Jadar project in August last year, outlining what needs to be protected in the area and how this should be done.
Emails, official notes, and other documents obtained by CINS reveal that some experts at the Institute were against this because they believed the conditions did not protect the environment. Some experts questioned the validity of issuing these conditions.
“…There are no conditions that can prevent the irreversible destruction of this area (at the mining field and landfill locations), as well as the habitats of numerous species,” one email reads.
Despite their opposition, the Acting Director of the Institute, Marina Šibalić, issued the conditions.
After this, some of the department heads wrote official notes describing what had happened.
How it all began
A few days after Olaf Scholz’s visit, the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbiareceived a request from Rio Sava Exploration, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto in Serbia, to issue nature protection conditions for the Jadar project.
This document serves as a guide to the investor on how to implement the project without harming the environment.
One of the department heads at the Institute sent a notification about this, along with the accompanying documentation and the initial division of responsibilities, to a joint mailing list. It included employees from expert services, primarily those who would be involved in drafting the conditions.
At the very beginning, biologist Ivan Medenica responded that after analyzing and comparing the data, he encountered “a highly complex and practically impossible situation.” In his opinion, there were no conditions that would prevent the irreversible destruction of nature.
For the full article go to CINS.
