If lithium is exploited in Serbia, the condition of the Government of Serbia will be the construction of a battery factory and an electric car factory, the research and publishing center Demostat writes today, referring to its sources.
“Serbia will not allow the exploitation of lithium just to export it to other countries. There are no guarantees that it will give up cooperation with Rio Tinto, but the possibility is open that the country will find a new partner whose reputation is not damaged, as in the case of the British-Australian corporation that has faced several accusations of destroying the environment on a global level”, said the center.
Before the project comes to life, according to Demostat, the company that will work on it will have to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment Study, which should show relevant data collected by credible institutions on environmental impact assessment in the Jadra Valley and beyond.
“The state never gave up lithium mining, but stopped the project because of the April elections. Now the public is slowly preparing for the revival of the ore mining project in the fertile region of western Serbia, against which a large number of citizens rose up at the end of last year”, it added. in the text.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there has been interest from American companies that produce batteries and electric cars to invest in Serbia, and one of them is Rivian, a manufacturer of electric adventure vehicles, which announced in September that it would open a research and development center in Belgrade.
Demostat sources point out that this is the main condition of the state to enter the lithium exploitation project, and as they state, the state will not agree to a contract that would mean that lithium is mined in Serbia and then exported to be further processed in another country.
“Serbia will ask for the opening of factories for the production of batteries and electric cars”, writes Demostat.
As stated in the text, if it is not Rio Tinto, there are interested companies from China and Germany, which could offer to close the entire production circle.
“This means that both of them have the possibility to invest in a lithium battery factory and a plant for the production of electric cars that use such batteries in addition to the mine”, Demostat adds, Beta writes.
