Serbian government building (Beta/Nenad Petrovic)
Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Jan. 18 that, as far as the Cabinet was concerned, the Rio Tinto company's Jadar project had been halted because it would not granted an exploitation field permit.
She told reporters in the Serbian government seat that it was not just this project that had been stopped but all other activities in Serbia related to exploring lithium reserves. She previously told Prva TV that the process would unfold so that Rio Tinto's permits would expire. "The permit will expire, we will terminate the special purpose spatial plan and that is that," Brnabic said.
She added that the Cabinet had not signed any contract with Rio Tinto apart from approving a special purpose spatial plan which was necessary for the company to know the scope of a study on the project's environmental impact.
She said said that the government would fight the company if it asked for damages stemming from a 2002 contract on protecting mutual investment with the UK, that Rio Tinto came from that country, despite being a multinational corporation, and that the document took effect in 2004.
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