Mining Minister: Decision on Lithium Will Not Be Made in Streets, Government Will Not Fall

Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic (BETAPHOTO/MINISTRY OF MINING AND ENERGY OF SERBIA/Emilija Jovanovic)

Serbia has the opportunity to become a serious player in the global lithium industry and such a chance should not be wasted, Serbia’s Mining and Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic told the July 18 edition of the NIN weekly, adding that the government shall not fall over the controversies surrounding the issue.

“There is no way any project in Serbia would be actualized – regardless of its economic potential – if it could not be actualized in a manner that is safe for the environment and people’s health, because we have progressive laws and protocols aligned with European Union directives which every project must abide by, [lithium mining] included,” Djedovic Handanovic explained.

The law, she stressed, “clearly states that the costs of conducting an environmental impact study are the responsibility of the investor.”

“The state cannot use the people’s [tax] money to finance studies for private companies. With regards to agriculture, the economic impact study showed that the [potential lithium] mine would displace less than one percent of the Loznica municipality’s farmland,” the minister said when asked about how much would be lost should a mine be built in an agricultural area.

With regards to the locals of Gornje Nedeljice – the Loznica village where Rio Tinto plans on opening its mine – demanding that the Serbian National Assembly pass a law prohibiting the exploitation of lithium and boron by Aug. 10, Djedovic Handanovic responded: “At a time when the countries of Europe are competing to be the first to exploit resources such as lithium and borates, we have such extreme demands to ban entire industrial branches such as mining and geology.”