Thousands protest against Rio Tinto's lithium project in Serbia

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Thousands of people in Belgrade and other Serbian towns blocked major roads and bridges for hours during anti-government protests over the weekend, targeting two new laws that environmentalists say will allow foreign companies to use local resources.

Demonstrators protested against Rio Tinto's Jadar lithium project and Zijin Mining's recently opened Cukaru Peki copper and gold mine, claiming that these projects would pollute land and water in the Balkan country.

Except in Serbia, the protests have been reflected abroad. Activists gathered in Berlin, New York and Rio Tinto's London headquarters. The protesters held banners that read: "stop investors, save nature, we will not give up the nature of Serbia" and chanted "Rio Tinto away from the Derina River".

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic shared a photo of the protest on Instagram, commenting that "clean air, water and food are the key to health."

"without it, every word about 'health' is out of date," Djokovic wrote. "

Jadar, discovered by Rio Tinto geologists in 2004, is one of the largest undeveloped lithium projects currently under development. It has the potential to produce about 58000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate per year.

The world's second-largest mining company approved the project in July and has repeatedly warned that the supply gap for lithium is imminent and "significant" as demand for metals used in (EV) and green technologies for electric vehicles continues to soar.

Rio estimates that committed supply and capacity expansion will contribute about 15 per cent to demand growth between 2020 and 2050. The remaining 85% will need to come from new projects.

To put this in perspective, Vivek Tulpule, the miner's economic director, said in October that more than 60 Jadar projects would be needed to fill the supply gap.

Rio's project in western Serbia will produce enough lithium to power 1 million electric vehicles. It will also produce boric acid for ceramics and batteries and sodium sulfate for detergents.

Construction of the mine is expected to begin early next year, subject to environmental approval and first production in 2026.

Once operational, the Jadar mine will mainly supply the European market, one of the world's largest growing markets for electric vehicles.

When fully operational in 2029, the mine will produce 58000 tons of lithium carbonate, 160000 tons of boric acid and 255000 tons of sodium sulfate per year.

In just three years, British carmakers will have to purchase local electric car batteries in accordance with the provisions of the Brexit Free Trade Agreement signed in 2020.

Under the agreement, all European car and parts trade will continue to be duty-free or quota-free after the Brexit transition period ends on December 31, as long as they contain sufficient ingredients from British or EU factories.

Initially, up to 70% of the material in the battery will be allowed to come from outside the European Union. From 2024, the requirement will be tightened to 50%.

The European Union is currently building large-scale battery factories. Maros Sefcovic, vice president of the European Commission, said that by 2025, the planned facility would produce batteries to power at least 6 million electric vehicles.

For the past five years, the miner has been trying to expand its footprint in the battery market. In 2018, Rio Tinto reportedly tried to buy a $5 billion stake in (SQM), the world's second-largest lithium producer, the Chilean Chemical and Mining Association.

In April, the company began producing lithium from waste rock at a demonstration plant at its controlled California borate mine.

Rio Tinto invested $10 million to build a pilot plant with an annual capacity of 10 tons of lithium carbonate. By the end of this year, based on the test results, it will decide whether to invest another US $50 million to build an industrial-scale plant with an annual capacity of 5000 tons per year-enough to produce about 15000 Tesla Model S batteries.

Production is expected to be roughly the same as that of the Silver Peak mine in Albemarle, Nevada, which is currently the country's only lithium carbonate production asset, according to the USGS.

The Serbian government expects the country's booming mining industry to begin to account for 4-5 per cent of its GDP in less than a decade, a significant increase from the current 2 per cent.