Presidential candidate Biljana Stojković from the Moramo coalition and the Assembly of Free Serbia, Bojana Novaković from the Marš sa Drine environmentalist network and Marijana Petković from the Association of Environmental Organizations of Serbia said they learned that Rio Tinto bought a boring machine for the shaft for the lithium mining project in Jadar area and that it is supposed to be delivered in April.
Environmentalists cited an anonymous source who they said got the information from Associate Professor Saša Stojadinović from the Technical Faculty in Bor in a telephone conversation that Rio Tinto’s Serbian subsidiary Rio Sava ordered a machine to bore the mining shaft for its lithium exploitation project in the Jadar valley in the country’s west.
Biljana Stojković, presidential candidate from the We Must (Moramo) coalition and the Assembly of Free Serbia (SSS), Bojana Novaković from the Marš sa Drine initiative and Marijana Petković from the Association of Environmental Organizations of Serbia (SEOS) played an audio recording of a conversation, in which they claim was said that the equipment is supposed to be delivered by an Austrian and a German company. They said they didn’t name the individual that they got the tape from for the sake of the person’s security.
In an emotional address at a press conference in Belgrade, the activists stressed that the authorities in Serbia are still supporting Rio Tinto even though the project was officially halted in January. They called on voters not to support President Aleksandar Vučić and the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), warning that otherwise the project would be resumed after the April 3 elections.
The Jadar area is part of the City of Loznica administrative area. For the whole article go to Balkan Green Energy News.
